


The Caped Crusade: A History of the Batman

by DudeJack



Category: Batman - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - Historical, Gen, Multiple Crossovers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-26
Updated: 2020-04-01
Packaged: 2021-02-26 19:21:51
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 13
Words: 49,607
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21973789
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DudeJack/pseuds/DudeJack
Summary: It has been over sixty years since the Batman appeared in Gotham. But what were the events during this time period and his role in them? In this look into the history of the Dark Knight, we look to the actual history and hopefully find an answer to the final mystery. Just who was the man under the cowl? AU written as a history book.
Comments: 22
Kudos: 29





	1. Prologue

The Caped Crusade: A History of the Batman

_“Batman himself knows that he is more than just a man in a mask. He has become a legend, a symbol of justice beyond that of the American system. Not bound by the normal rules of society, he has risen to become an icon of a single man standing against evil and against what the law requires. This is the man whom Gotham so honours. But should they?”_

_Clark Kent writing in 1945_

With those words, the Pulitzer Prize winning Clark Kent helped set the tone of debate regarding the Batman that has raged even before the Kansas native first wrote his article. In the sixty years since the first appearance of the Batman, he has provoked arguments ranging from his impact on Gotham, to the wider issues that only a truly successful vigilante could bring about. Was he a force for good, protecting the defenceless from the calamities and threats that only Gotham could attract? Or was he simply a tool of an increasingly authoritarian city, keeping the masses in line with Gotham’s elite benefiting from the distraction of this supposed Dark Avenger?

The question has been asked and answered over the years with academic papers, documentaries and similar books such as this. In the context of the Cold War, Batman has been presented as both a man striking at the evils of capitalism while others believed him to be defending the elite and oppressing those who struggled to escape poverty. Praised and condemned by people in equal measure from all walks of life, the Batman was the ultimate dividing point in a nation for a time, his heyday of controversy being the Communist trials of the 1950’s.

But, I am perhaps reaching too far ahead, to first fully understand the long term impact the Batman has had upon this nation, we must first look towards the city he has long since called his home, Gotham. Dark, Gothic and steeped in corruption and crime since its birth, Gotham City provided perhaps the only backdrop in which Batman could have functioned without having ran afoul of Federal agents. This city, looming, dark and dangerous, shall be perhaps the greatest player in the history which I shall tell, its Gothic architecture and darkened alleys providing many of the backdrops to the history related in this book.

In my research upon this subject, I found myself realising that I would have to relate a tale that seemed unbelievable and in many respects, the very definition of fantastic. Despite my scepticism and, that I’m sure many of my readers will no doubt have, all stories within this history are true. Walking through the streets of Gotham these days doesn’t show the signs of battles and extravagant personalities that once inflicted the city, but the memories are still within its inhabitants and asking anyone off a street corner will get you a tale of the Dark Knight seen in the shadows. The physical signs may have been hidden or repaired, but the legend of Batman remains to this day and the people of Gotham talk of it with pride.

It is of legend that this story shall concern itself with due to the very nature of Batman himself. Clad in the shadows and keeping only to himself, Batman has inspired dozens of stories, rumours and even a Broadway musical, all with different takes on the cowl and the man behind it. As tempting as it might have been to divulge in such unsolicited tales, I have been determined to keep only to what sources were able to confirm in order to simply present the truth of Gotham’s very soul. In this, my account itself will be more compact than others in this field. I intend to give an overview to give an insight into the period and man for ease of access into what was a chaotic time. Those who seek a comprehensive and detailed view of Batman, Joseph Dawson's Watching The Darkness remains the seminal work in recent years and should be read by anyone with an interest in the subject.

And coming to the sources, I must thank the following for their aid in granting me access to their own collections so that I could tell as much of the truth is possible in such an area. I owe a huge debt of gratitude to Sergeant Wilkes for aiding me in organising the many paper case files deep in the basement of Gotham City’s Hall of Records Annex. I would like to thank the city government as well as Commissioner Foley of the GCPD for allowing me access to the files. A special thank you must be given to the Gordon family, who have decided to release the diaries of James Gordon and Barbara Gordon after the latter’s sad death due to cancer, both of which are great insights into the Batman and his impact upon that family. Arkham Asylum is also an institution that I wish to thank for allowing me to use their own records as a source for this book. Published materials from magazines and newspapers with the Gotham Gazette being a prime source for opinion pieces has proven a boon for this book. Countless thanks must also go to the many citizens of Gotham who have recounted their own stories and the diaries and correspondence of previous generations who witnessed first-hand the changing times in Gotham when the Batman was at his peak.

I also need to mention the numerous reports, writings and other sources that have been used for this book that have provided background into the effect Batman has had outside the city while looking into what could drive a man to become what he did. I thank them for their own research and attempt to answer this mystery which even the greatest minds have puzzled over.

Without any of these contributions, this book would not have been possible and I owe a debt to all those I have spoken to as well as many of Gotham’s fine institutions and people. To them, I give my thanks and only hope this work will do that great city and its citizens justice.

_Ronald Troupe, 1999_


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter One: Gotham City  
_“What is Gotham City? Gotham City is Manhattan below Fourteenth Street at eleven minutes past midnight on the coldest night in November."_

_Anthony ‘Tony’ Stark quoted in 1964_

With those words, famous industrialist Tony Stark summed up the heart of Gotham’s image to the rest of the country, a dark, forbidding place that few, if any, would willingly go to. It is a reputation that has stuck with Gotham throughout its history, from when it was first founded by Dutch settlers as a small settlement in 1652. A prime haven for furs from beavers and other animals, the settlement was dubbed New Nijmegen after the oldest city in the Dutch Republic at the time with the intent of the colony providing an outlet for the new nation’s economic hopes in the New World along with its other colonies.

These hopes were to be dashed in 1664 when British ships took control of all settlements between the Hudson and Delaware Rivers to settle their claim on the disputed territory. The new name was given to it after an English village which was renowned for its fools, the name perhaps being an insult against the still large Dutch population in the settlement at this time. Despite this dig against the settlement and its people, Gotham rose from strength to strength over the next century, its position as a sizeable island just south of where the Delaware River met the Atlantic Ocean meant that it was useful as a port for inbound ships heading towards either the mainland or further up the river.

Over the next century, Gotham flourished as a centre of trade in the British colonies, taking in immigrants from all of Europe who looked for a better, and richer, life. The notorious corruption that would come to plague Gotham was seen to start at this period as smuggling soon became rife. So successful was the city that goods that normally would have had a tariff placed upon them elsewhere were rife in their cheapness in Gotham. The smuggler Jeremiah Cobblepot, born a lowly son of an inn keeper back in London, was the most successful of such smugglers and soon became one of the wealthiest men in Delaware. Settling down in Gotham, the Cobblepots would soon become notorious in Gotham for reasons which shall be explained later. For the time being though, Jeremiah remained in Gotham and built up his standing with his family soon becoming one of the new money families that influenced Gotham in the years to come.

As the eighteenth century went on with Gotham rising to prominence as a port city, the tensions between the colonies and England steadily grew over the role of taxation. In the aftermath of the Seven Years War, Gotham had become one of the major support bases of greater representation in Delaware. Despite the greater influence the colony had and a muted support for the eventual Revolution, it was the Cobblepot family who proved instrumental in providing the push towards revolution. Jeremiah Cobblepot III supported the Country party in Delaware after his attempts to gain respectability with representatives of the Crown were repeatedly snubbed due to his family’s background.

Using his family’s immense wealth and resources, Cobblepot helped publish pro-independence leaflets that stirred up support amongst the populace. He was joined in this by a local young firebrand attorney by the name of Darius Wayne who was a staunch supporter of independence. With Cobblepot’s wealth and Wayne’s commanding oratory, they were both able to build up support for independence in Gotham, both sharing a mutual love for the city despite the differences in character and background. Darius Wayne offered a stark contrast to Jeremiah Cobblepot as the young man who had pulled himself up from relative poverty to become a lawyer for local interests while retaining his honesty, a contrast indeed to the smuggler’s grandson who joined a cause simply because he felt slighted.

When the Declaration of Independence was voted on and approved by the Colonial Assembly in July of 1776, Darius Wayne was instrumental in drumming up a regiment from the settlement. Receiving funding from Cobblepot, Wayne founded the 1st Regiment of Gotham, made up of 500 men also commonly known as ‘Wayne’s Walkers’. This regiment soon joined the main Continental Army and would fight hard during the conflict, Wayne himself fighting with distinction and bravery in many battles. Although Delaware was subject to British occupation throughout the conflict, Wayne’s Walkers and the ‘Delaware Blues’ regiment built up a strong reputation for the state as a place that held strong and hardy people.

When the revolution ended with a victory for the Revolutionaries, Wayne and the remains of his regiment returned to Gotham to a hero’s welcome. This was in time for a new form of government to take place in Gotham with the office of Mayor being granted new powers to help lead the burgeoning city through this new period in American history. The council which was made up of several of Gotham’s most influential men and looked to set the tone of this new age with strong leadership. Unsurprisingly, Darius Wayne ran for the office, promising a new and better era for Gotham.

By doing so however, Wayne set himself up against Jeremiah Cobblepot III who saw himself as the natural leader of Gotham. This break between the former allies was bitter and would lead to a family feud that would last generations. A heated election was contested throughout 1784 with Wayne trying to keep his integrity intact while Cobblepot was more than happy to besmirch his opponent’s military record through utter slander. On the day of the election itself, people intending to vote for Wayne found themselves accosted by gangs of Cobblepot’s hired thugs who made sure only people who would vote for him made it to the ballot.

The election ended with a landslide in favour of Cobblepot and was the first of many strains of corruption that would inflict Gotham over the generations to come. For many, it was the point where the Rubicon had been crossed as money and influence had overrode the voice of the people and justice. Corruption was now the name of the game as Cobblepot assumed office and appointed his cronies to various places of power and influence, assuring his domination of the rising city.

Wayne was forced to abstain from politics but returned to his law practice, refusing to leave Gotham despite his humiliation and fought for the interests of the common people as best he could. As he did this, corruption sank into the political life of Gotham to the extent that it became ingrained into the city’s very fabric. The election of 1784 set the tone of Gotham itself for the next century and a half as political corruption became a simple fact of life in the city, slow and insidious in its take-over.

Despite the setbacks he had personally suffered, Darius Wayne managed to build a steady law practice in the city and through the generations, it would be the Wayne family who would attempt to counter the city’s corruption over the years as an extension to their feud against the Cobblepots but could do little to stem the tide. Unable to live in the city itself as he suffered from constant harassment, Darius Wayne used his growing fortune to purchase extensive property in Gotham County which he then converted into a manor for his family to live in.

As the decades rolled by and the nation changed, Gotham changed with it, steadily growing richer and more decadent as Civil War became a growing threat. The debate over slavery finally impacted upon Gotham as it was one of the major stopping off points of the Underground Railroad. Darius Wayne’s investments into property helped in this regard as the caves that were found around his property on Gotham County’s coast served well as hiding places for escaped slaves before being sent north into Canada.

The growth of Gotham as a trading port would be vital for the Union when war did break out, Gotham City being one of the major trading stations that would see vital gunpowder supplies enter the country. Confederate sympathisers in the city actually tried to cut this supply line off with a concentrated attack on the ports. The uprising (Sometimes referred to ‘The Battle of Gotham Heights’) was put down in quick order by the Union commander in the city at the time, Colonel Nathan Cobblepot. 

Using his well-placed connections and a few handy bribes, Cobblepot managed to get his achievements listed as a heroic defence of one of the Union’s most strategic locations when really, it was more a case of putting down a riot. Despite the shortness of the riot, enough damage was done to the government buildings that a general overhaul was called for. In stepped famous neo-Gothic architect Carlos Addams whose work would go onto redefine Gotham, giving it its signature intimidating look. Addams himself stayed in the city and his family would settle there, eccentricity and love for the Gothic style passing through the generations to the point where the Addams family became infamous for it.

After the war ended, Gotham continued to flourish economically, but remained steeped in political corruption. The first signs of organised crime were spotted around this period with the Italian immigrant communities in particular giving rise to notorious Black Hand gangs. From the end of the Civil War to the beginning of the twentieth century, crime in Gotham was slowly being brought under control by the strong Italian presence in the city although violence between the various families was rife.

It wasn’t until 1904 that the tension between the various crime families came to a head and burst into an explosive gang war that consumed the immigrant communities of Gotham for six years. As truces were made and broken, men and women brutally killed and blood was being openly spilt onto the streets, the elite of Gotham City happily ignored the problem, reasoning that it was only the poor and immigrants who were being affected by the violence so they needn’t worry. Only a small group spoke out for social reform, including various members of the Wayne family. But they were all roundly ignored despite their best efforts and the battles in the streets continued.

This arrogance and callous treatment of human life would allow the rise to a single crime family to become dominant in Gotham’s underworld. Having wiped out all other serious contenders, the new ruler of Gotham’s crime syndicates was first generation immigrant named Vincent Falcone. His rise to the top was marked with a brutality that even Gotham had rarely seen before with the massacre of the rival Maroni family standing out. Twenty members of the Maroni crime syndicate were killed in one night in several precision attacks. The head of the family, Luigi Maroni, fled to Chicago while only his illegitimate son Salvatore Maroni remaining in the city, eventually becoming part of the Falcone crime family.

His position secured as head of Gotham’s most powerful crime family, Vincent Falcone built up his image as a legitimate businessman whilst using the heavily corrupt political background of Gotham to his advantage. Vincent Falcone died in 1920 with the Falcone family now cemented as a powerful force in Gotham. His son, Carmine Falcone, continued his father’s work as he pushed for greater power and control over Gotham, backing a mayoral candidate that was in his pocket. This finally brought about the attention of Gotham’s established elite who finally had to acknowledge that the corruption that they had so endorsed was now allowing someone else to take control.

Led by the ageing Nathaniel Cobblepot, the old elite of Gotham attempted to stop Carmine’s encroachment into their power but years of mob warfare made the resistance sent by the elite of Gotham look like mere child’s play. Disrupting all attempts by the opposition to build up strong support for their candidate, the chosen puppet of the Falcone family, Arthur Reeves, (Up until this point a minor lackey on the Falcone’s law team) was elected Mayor with an overwhelming majority in late 1920.

Now with a new major power in town, the Falcone family branched out, being able to even control the police force with Reeves planting men known to be corrupt into positions of power. Gotham’s ruling class proved to be nothing if not pragmatic and consequently turned to the Falcones as one of their own, welcoming the family in with open arms. Only a select few continued to resist the Falcone emergence into the power structure of Gotham, the Waynes and Cobblepots actually working together on one issue for the first time since the Civil War.

This alliance would be short lived as Nathaniel Cobblepot died due to heart issues in early 1921, leaving his family to trim sails and survive without him. The only voices that spoke out against the encroaching influence of the mob were those of Thomas and Martha Wayne, two of the city’s most eminent voices for reform. Thomas Wayne was a trained doctor whose practice went from the lowest born of Gotham to the highest families while also being the CEO of Wayne Enterprises, the city’s largest employer. His wife, Martha, was also a strong presence in the meetings of political groups that called for reform and greater honesty in politics.

For the next two years, the Waynes proved to be the strongest voice against the rampant corruption, ignoring the constant threats against them by Falcone representatives to stop in their actions. In time, the Waynes proved to be the only voice many in Gotham that spoke for those left behind by the system to dwell in squalor. Everything they said antagonised the Falcone family further with even their stance against Prohibition making them an enemy for Carmine Falcone who was enjoying the profits the law allowed him to reap.

The pressure on the Falcone started to build through the efforts of Thomas and Martha Wayne who spoke out against corruption at every turn, using what influence they could to build a better Gotham. This would all tragically end on the night of the 26th June, 1923 when Thomas and Martha Wayne left a local cinema where they had taken their eight year old son to see a showing of Zorro. While walking through the (At the time) affluent Park Row, the Wayne family was accosted by a mugger which resulted in Thomas and Martha Wayne being shot and killed in front of their child.

The crime sent shockwaves throughout Gotham which resulted in a city wide manhunt for the man who had committed the crime. There was no success in the search however and the murderer escaped unpunished. This was the breaking point for many in Gotham as many spoke of how, if justice could be denied to the Waynes, what chance was there for them? All attempts to reform Gotham collapsed soon after the deaths of these two citizens and a sense of despair washed over the city.

From that point on, Gotham was a mob city. Nothing happened without the say so of Carmine Falcone and his organisation and the mob ruled over Gotham with an iron fist. For sixteen years, Carmine Falcone and his cronies feasted upon the riches of Gotham with the elite standing by his side, asking for patronage from the supposed King of Gotham. The cracks in the foundation of Falcone’s control would start to show however when, on May 10th 1939, a burglary was interrupted by a ‘masked man’. Although a low key event, it was the beginning of what was to come.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A quick background of Gotham City itself before we get to the Dark Knight and his escapades.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter Two: Year One (1939-1940)   
_“Overseas, America was soon to fight a war like no other. In Gotham, one man was fighting a war that had no equal since Robin Hood. A war of one man against an entire organisation that was willing to destroy all in its path. It was a war of courage, intelligence and dark obsession.”_

_CIA Director Felix Leiter, an extract from his autobiography ‘Memoirs From the Shadows’_

The first sign Batman was in Gotham was that of three beaten bodies left on a pavement. The three men were ordinary hoodlums who had tried to break into an apartment on Gotham’s Upper East Side. When discovered by police, all three men gave statements that a man dressed like a “Black Devil from Hell” had fallen upon them and beat them into unconsciousness. Unsurprisingly, this description was dismissed as the ramblings of a drunken trio who were perhaps beaten by a group of people who they’d angered in some manner. 

After arresting the group for breaking and entering, GCPD were happy to let the matter drop there and get back to normal. This was until the 13th May, when a mugger was taken down in Robinson Park. Those who alerted the police told them that the mugger had been taken down by “A giant bat” and the criminal himself babbled on about his attacker. Once again, the police ignored the reports as they were dismissed as hysterical nonsense.

Throughout the rest of May though, more and more people reported seeing someone dressed as a bat, typically near or at a crime scene. It was soon impossible for the police to continue to ignore the statements of witnesses and an official statement was released after the Gotham Gazette published an article on the Batman in late July. While refusing to actually admit there was a vigilante stalking the streets of Gotham, the statement did call for _“… Vigilance on part of the public for helping police apprehend a dangerous and mentally unstable person who has taken to walking around the streets, dressed as a bat.”_

Although the statement was met with derision and many in Gotham’s upper classes wondering what they were paying the police force for, an event was about to take place that would ultimately change things completely. On the 31st August, a dinner party took place at the Mayor’s Mansion that comprised of some of Gotham’s leading citizens and major members of the Falcone family, including Carmine Falcone himself. Among these was then Commissioner Loeb of the GCPD.

What happened on that night has long been shrouded in legend as none of those who attended ever wanted to admit neither what had happened nor how it had affected them. The one reliable piece of testimony was given years later by a Falcone family member named Frederick Rhino (Known more commonly as Rhino by his peers) who only ever spoke of what had happened decades after the fact. Rhino had been hired as protection for the evening along with a score of others although the job was generally regarded as a waste of an evening. After all, who’d be stupid enough to attack the very heart of Gotham’s elite and expect to walk away from it?

It turned out that someone indeed dared to strike at the group that evening. According to the testimony of Rhino, things had been going smoothly, the meal had been excellent and everyone had enjoyed themselves. One person had raised the issue of Batman, but the figure was dismissed as a useful tool to strike into the hearts of the lower class criminals and certainly couldn’t hurt them. This arrogance had its fall as the lights in the mansion went out, no doubt orchestrated by the Batman to hide his presence during his infiltration of the building.

Rhino spoke of the annoyance of those assembled around the dining table at this inconvenience, something which soon turned to horror when a single light came from the table itself, the darkness being pushed back only to show the face of a man clad in a black cowl. The shock of this was soon compounded as the man offered a stark promise, the feeding upon Gotham’s people was now over and that they would be brought to justice.

With a sudden flash, the room once more descended into darkness and by the time lights could be found, the Batman was gone completely. A search was ordered in the mansion but the cowled man was nowhere to be found and it was if he had never been there in the first place. 

Now such a tale would only produce questions and scepticism from any decent journalist, especially when taking into account Rhino was later successfully prosecuted for perjury. As sources go, his credibility is quite low. However, there are several circumstances that appear to add weight to Rhino’s story. Several of Gotham’s finest families took sabbaticals away from the city after that night, even at a time when it was unfashionable to do so. Many of them even bought property in other cities along the coast with New York suddenly becoming the popular spot for secondary homes for Gotham’s elite.

The most interesting support for Rhino’s story comes from the GCPD itself the very day after the dinner party. An order, coming from Commissioner Loeb himself, was sent out to all Gotham stations, telling the rank and file that Batman was to be brought in at all costs. There were no activities in the preceding weeks that would have made Batman more of a target than he had already been defined as, a lone mentally disturbed person. Although it was largely conjecture and coincidence, there is a lot to suggest that Batman did indeed strike on that summer evening.

The 31st August incident represented a break from how the Batman was perceived not only by the police, but Gotham as a whole. An article ran in the local newspaper, the _Gotham Gazette_ , asking the question of what Batman was hero, or villain? The question was asked by Alexander Knox, a reporter who would become famous for his own connection with Batman later on. Knox looked into the effect Batman was already having as it appeared crime rates had dipped since his arrival into Gotham. 

The article did cause a stir when published, so much so that the _Gotham Gazette_ published a full retraction in its next edition, having been pressured into it by Commissioner Loeb. The official reasoning was that the article had been inappropriate considering the Batman’s obvious mental issues. An unofficial, yet more likely reasoning was that the police had no wish for anyone to paint the Batman in any kind of heroic light. Knox would continue to write what articles he could in the _Gazette_ regarding Batman, but it would be several years before he could print an article telling his full side on matters.

The initial campaign that turned Batman into a fully-fledged outlaw continued as the full force of Gotham’s legitimate powers and the underworld. September and October saw increased attacks by Batman on the criminal element, focusing on the Falcone crime syndicate as he attacked fronts for the organisation. Bars, night clubs and gambling dens were all attacked and money destroyed on premises. The strikes against Falcone business interests were constant and without the crime organisation able to fight back against their attacker.

The run up to Christmas 1939 saw the Falcone family vulnerable for the first time since Carmine Falcone had first taken over the organisation. The constant attacks on its manner of money laundering had humiliated Carmine Falcone personally while damaging the organisation, albeit not to a great extent. The Batman had shaken confidence in the Falcone syndicate, but they still ruled Gotham. 

Two men had a meeting that would go onto undermine this confidence in the Falcone organisation further however, the two men being a young Assistant District Attorney, and Lieutenant James Gordon of the GCPD. Harvey Dent was a native of Gotham who had studied law and had worked in the District Attorney’s office for three years before Batman had arrived. He had already gained a reputation for honesty that was unusual amongst his peers and had successfully prosecuted a number of cases. The arrival of Batman and his attacks on the Falcone crime family had allowed him to get closer to them via investigations into the Batman himself.

James Gordon was another native to Gotham, although he had spent fifteen years outside of the city, rising to the rank of Lieutenant in Chicago. He played a large role in bringing down the remaining corrupt elements in Chicago’s city council after Al Capone’s downfall. Gordon proved to be overly successful in this as he also brought down officers who’d previously been in Capone’s pocket. Such a move had made Gordon unpopular enough that he was transferred to Gotham, largely for his own safety. Gordon had arrived back in Gotham on the 15th May, while Batman was still unknown.

These two men, although not making waves like Batman, were already building names for themselves by New Year as Gordon was gaining a reputation for refusing bribes while Dent was slowly worming his way into Falcone’s business fronts to uncover the truth. Interviews with Gordon later revealed that he and Dent started to work together fairly early on, a meeting taking place between them on New Year’s Eve concerning their attempts to keep clean in a very dirty city.

While Gordon has been honest regarding his dealings with Dent, general legal issues may have prevented him from being more open with his dealings with Batman. Although later journals revealed some details, Gordon kept Batman’s involvement hidden even from them. From the period we are looking at though, Gordon’s entries are caged whenever mentioning Batman and seem to limit to simply making mentions of, what he believes, Batman’s effects on the criminal element was rather than his dealings with him. 

What can be discovered, when reading through the lines of Gordon’s own words and the later testimonies of Harvey Dent, the possibility of working with Batman was raised between the two men at this point. Although it was impossible to contact Batman it seemed, he was a man who contacted others, rather than allow himself to be found. The first meeting between Gordon and Dent was on the 31st December, the two using a New Year’s party hosted by Commissioner Loeb. Both men were outcasts in their respective departments and they had heard of each other enough to strike up a conversation.

The conversation between Gordon and Dent concerned their respective positions as being among the few honest officials in Gotham before turning to Batman. At this point, Batman was regarded as a real person throughout Gotham and by its officials and any conversations regarding him was only natural. Both Gordon and Dent agreed that the Batman’s constant strikes on the Falcone family were a good thing and, according to Dent’s later accounts, the two agreed that they should consider working with the Batman.

Due to Dent’s later instability, we must take his entire testimony with a grain of salt and Gordon always denied the alleged alliance between him and Batman. The depth of the alliance between the three men shall possibly remain a mystery for the ages unless new evidence is uncovered. Nevertheless, the testimonies of those involved still allow us to see that both Dent and Gordon recognised the state of Gotham, and that something needed to be done.

New Year soon passed and Batman remained at large, much to the continuing embarrassment of the police force. As the vigilante had been cast as a man with severe mental issues, the fact he remained free was a gross embarrassment for the GCPD and Commissioner Loeb in particular. Carmine Falcone was recorded by witnesses as visiting the Commissioner in his office in early February, no doubt concerning the failure to bring Batman in.

Carmine was no doubt feeling pressure himself as the months had gone by. An attack by Batman onto a bookies owed by the Carmine family on the 17th February had alerted the police, a group of officers led by James Gordon burst in to try and capture Batman just as the vigilante escaped. Now an official crime scene, the bookies was scoured by Gordon and his close allies, a series of documents starting a paper trail that linked the illegal gambling operation to a local bank chain.

Elliot & Gates was a bank that had a long history in Gotham, linked to two major families in the city’s history as its founders. It was also one of the largest banks used by the Falcone family for money laundering with nearly one million dollars going through it every year. The paper trail from the bookies had led the GCPD to the bank, James Gordon managing to work together with Harvey Dent to gain a warrant to raid the bank in connection with the illegal gambling ring. Although Carmine Falcone still had control over the GCPD, the thought of several dozen cops of questionable honesty rifling through his bank and close to his money made the mob boss uneasy.

As a result, Carmine soon withdrew all money from the bank, placing it in his warehouses along the waterfront as a security measure in the expectation that the police would end their investigation. Despite undoubtedly putting pressure on Loeb to do such a thing, a paper trail linking the withdrawn money to the gambling ring was discovered which then led on to three other banks in Gotham. The race was on to withdraw the money, the Falcone family soon having most of their liquid assets hidden in warehouses along the docks.

The actual amount that Falcone made still is hard to be certain of. Certainly, the repealing of Prohibition had hit his business hard in the early 1930’s although before the appearance of Batman, he had managed to stabilise it quite well. An estimate has been put forward that shows Carmine Falcone’s income was second perhaps only to fellow mobster Al Capone at his height. His undue influence in Gotham brought Falcone roughly $60,000,000 a year from gambling, prostitution, rackets and various other business fronts. Even considering the amount Carmine had to spend to keep Gotham dirty, his own personal fortune came close to a further $80,000,000 including the value of properties and various holdings.

By the 3rd May, the Falcone family was starting to feel the pinch as Gordon and Dent had managed to raid almost every major bank in Gotham that had a strong connection to the Falcone family. Later interviews with some of Falcone’s men revealed that this was the period where he first considered having both Gordon and Dent killed off as a matter of convenience and to restore some fear to the family name. This was a risky move; even Gotham’s jaded populace not having experienced a brutal murder of a police officer and ADA in this manner. But the pressure was starting to show on Carmine Falcone and attempts to bribe or threaten either man had been refused.

Before such a move could be made however, news was taken to Carmine that affected him deeply. On the 8th May 1940, Carmine Falcone was sitting in his office, discussing the best way to deal with this threat on his organisation’s power, when a made-man by the name of Tony Zuco came to him with devastating news. The warehouses storing the liquid assets of the Carmine family had gone up in flames. Rumours and reports concerning the actual amount differ due to speculation and legend regarding the family’s wealth although an estimate of $50,000,000 is not beyond the realm of plausibility.

Hearing the news of the fire made Carmine finally lose control. After months of being defied and humiliated, he apparently started to shoot up his office, hurling abuse at his subordinates and wanted to know who was responsible. A nervous Zuco told him that Batman had been seen in the area and workers there had told everyone that they’d been scared off by him before the fire had started. Having overlooked Batman since the raids on the banks began, Falcone must have realised his mistake and went further into a rage before putting a $500,000 bounty on Batman’s head.

Despite the promise of such a reward, the Falcone family had been hit the hardest it had ever been. First, Batman had robbed them of their security. Then, he’d robbed them of people’s respect. Gordon and Dent had deprived them of people’s fear. But now, Batman had hit the hardest blow and destroyed the money which had kept the corruption of Gotham flowing. In just one year, Batman had gone from a minor nuisance to having dealt a blow to the Falcone family that it would not recover from.

It was a magnificent start, and Batman was only getting warmed up.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The first year of Batman in Gotham, mostly a focus on his work against the Falcone, although more familiar faces will be popping up after the next chapter as well.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter Three: Year Two (1940 – 1941)   
_“At the end of the day, we must all operate within the confines of the law of this great nation. But there are times when the law fails and we must go above and beyond it in order to get justice. I see such a case in the Batman.”_

_Special Agent Richard ‘Dick’ Tracy, speaking in 1943_

Well known for his own reputation to bending the rules to breaking point, Dick Tracy must have been those who heard of the Falcone fortune going up in flames with a good degree of satisfaction. The money which Carmine Falcone had used to control Gotham was now nothing but ashes and this had left his organisation effectively crippled. He could no longer afford to bribe city officials and those needed to keep his operation free from interference while also paying his own men. Caught between a rock and a hard place, Falcone chose to pay the members of his crime syndicate with his own funds. 

While this kept the Falcone crime family going in the short term, it meant that the judges, policemen, officials and countless others could no longer be bribed. The steady corruption which the Falcone crime family relied upon had come to a shuddering halt while Carmine Falcone scrambled to recover. The damage had been done however and the Carmine family was now on the defensive as Harvey Dent led a prosecution against Sal Maroni, a lieutenant of the Falcone Family, for charges of murder, money laundering and various other crimes linked to corruption of various judges in Gotham.

While the Falcone family was damaged however, it was still a powerful organisation to take on and they didn’t take the challenge to one of their own lying down. A battle for Gotham’s soul was about to take place as Maroni was brought before a judge on the 9th July for the first part of his trial. The Falcone family did everything in their power to stop the trial from going ahead peacefully as they tried to manipulate and throw the trial completely off its course. Bribery, threats and efforts to break Maroni out of his prison cell were all attempted in order to restore the fear of the Falcone family to Gotham.

These attempts all failed however. The bribes were too small now that Carmine was short on funds, the police were finding that their corruption wasn’t worth the changing attitudes in the city and most of all, Batman was ever present. The Dark Knight was coming into true prominence at this time as he prevented many attacks or bribery attempts by the Falcone family against the jurors or Harvey Dent. Any attempt to circumvent the law on the part of Sal Maroni simply saw those involved on the wrong end of a beating from Batman and an arrest by police led by Lieutenant Gordon. Carmine Falcone was rapidly losing the respect and fear of the city, as well as his man power and money as he had to bail his men out of jail.

As the trial dragged on throughout the year, America’s attention was also caught up with the War that was on-going in Europe. The rapid defeat of France and the rise of Fascism brought in fresh refugees and immigrants for Gotham with tales of the horror of the Nazi crimes taking place briefly tore attention away from the Sal Maroni trial to what was going on overseas. The stand of Britain against Nazi Germany gained some sympathy from the German and Jewish immigrants who’d fled from the persecution they’d suffered and several travelled to Canada to volunteer to fight against Fascist forces.

One Gotham native led the charge in other ways though. Bruce Wayne, son of Martha and Thomas Wayne, was among the first prominent Americans to call for greater aid for the forces fighting against the Axis powers. Bruce Wayne shall be looked at later, but we must raise his current role in the city. After the death of his parents in 1923, Wayne spent most of his life past his childhood as a recluse, having either (Depending on which rumours you believed) spent his early adulthood travelling the globe or holed up in Wayne Mansion, completing his schooling privately. Due to the lack of sources regarding Wayne’s activities at the time his time as a recluse is the only real option, especially in light of the trauma he must have felt from witnessing his parent’s deaths at such a young age. Emerging in 1939, Wayne had made himself as a borderline scandalous playboy with a social conscience, Wayne Enterprises heavily investing into social care, anti-crime measures and medical aid for the people of Gotham when he took control of the company.

Bruce Wayne’s actions prove to be almost contradictory in terms of the personality shown. On the one hand, Wayne was frequently in the gossip columns of state wide newspapers, a beautiful woman on one arm and an even more beautiful woman on the other. Scandal regarding his many relationships would dog him throughout the years, only mitigated by his work through the Wayne Foundation. The Wayne Foundation was a charity created in 1939, looking to help get people out of crime through giving them work and helping those who were affected by it. The Wayne Foundation proved to be a major help in the fight against crime as it helped provide an alternative to the Mob that many had been lacking. At the time of 1940, Bruce Wayne started to turn his considerable resources towards helping the beleaguered UK and would eventually go onto play a key role in the initial Lend Lease program.

The work of Bruce Wayne in helping the nations struggling against Fascist Europe managed to provide Gotham with a political cause that people could rally behind. Although there were those arguing for neutrality, refugees from Europe trickled through, providing people with the stories of the terror they had left behind. With that came the opportunity to invest in new industries to help the UK, giving the city reinvigorated job markets. The slow growth in industry, headed by Wayne Enterprises, would help bring prosperity to Gotham that would help bring the city out of its poverty and undercut crime in the long term. Despite his flaws, Wayne would prove to be the man who brought Gotham out of the mire of conventional crime.

Also helping in this sense was Wayne's aid to Dent's campaigns against corruption, agreeing to help keep the jurors of the Sal Maroni trial in his own estates for safe keeping among other gestures of help. Throughout the trial, Wayne would be one of Dent's greatest allies in making sure that justice was finally done. In this, they were successful as Sal Maroni was found guilty of all charges on the 9th February, 1941. Falcone power, challenged, bruised and diminished, was almost broken.

The outcome of the trial reinvigorated Harvey Dent and James Gordon, the latter being promoted to Captain of his own precinct for his efforts against the Falcone family. This would only prove to be a short term stop however as Commissioner Loeb was arrested on charges of corruption in April of 1941. With no other alternatives, combined with Gordon's overwhelming popularity, Mayor Reeves was forced to make him Commissioner that same month, giving even more power to anti-corruption forces in the city. With Falcone influence in Gotham crumbling, Reed would find his own job soon under threat from Dent and Gordon.

But while Falcone was damaged and desperate, he was still a man of influence. The Falcone Family was not going down without a fight and although the organisation was hurting, it could still punch back. In order to do this, Carmine Falcone put an open hit of one million dollars each on Batman, James Gordon and Harvey Dent and anyone associated with them that anyone could collect on. It was a decision that would help bring his empire crashing down for good.

On the 4th May, the body of Chief Clancy O'Hara was found. O'Hara had been promoted to the position only three months previously, being one of Gordon's biggest supporters in cleaning up the department. Falcone hitmen were first believed to have been behind the crime until a single clue was found. A playing card hidden away in O'Hara's suit pocket, one that would become a symbol of terror to Gotham.

The Joker had claimed his first victim.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The shortest chapter of the piece, it gets progressively longer from here.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter Four: Year Three (1941-1942)   
_“When you've stared into the eyes of darkness, you realise that no one is influenced to actions of pure evil. What they choose to do comes from their own inner insanity. Despite what some may believe, choosing such evil is something that takes place deep inside a person and is little effected by outside factors.”_

_Helen Maxwell, during a 1998 lecture on her experiences during the infamous 'Barrows' Murders'_

Although no one knew it at first, a certain kind of madness had arrived in Gotham. The open hit on Gordon, Dent and Batman attracted people from outside of the city. Most were in it solely for the money, others to get in with the good graces of the Falcone family. One man though, joined in for the sheer fun of it all and to make his mark on the city he would soon call home. He was the Joker and his four year reign of terror would create a bogeyman of the 20th century, one that would linger in the nightmares of many, even years after his death.

His origins in Gotham are, like the man himself, completely shrouded in mystery. His past, his life outside Gotham and even his name have never been discovered., a Jack the Ripper of the twentieth century. Much like the Ripper, Joker has passed into legend in his nation, becoming a feared figure haunting the national consciousness years after his demise. The mystery of him remains the strongest attractor to many of those studying the period and has become one of his defining traits.

We shall look further into the Joker later on, as well as have an overview of those who made themselves famous by opposing the Batman in various ways throughout his career, but for now the focus should be on the chain events of Gotham in this year. The appearance of the Joker was merely the start of what was to come although he would be the most infamous figure of all of them in the years to follow.

The joker playing card found on O'Hara's corpse signalled the first of the madman's victims as he sent a message to Gordon, Dent and the Batman. He was coming for them and was willing to kill everyone that got in his way. For a month, this seemed to steady the Falcone family as the Joker had hijacked the printing press of the _Gotham Gazette_ , the most widely read newspaper in the city, on the 7th May, killing two of the workers there as he inserted an announcement to the public in the paper, claiming that Dent and Gordon were next, the article being followed by a picture of his calling card, the joker from a deck of playing cards.

This forced the police to divert resources away from the Falcone case in order to deal with this new threat, one that wasn't entirely understood. Although Joker was seen as a threat to the lives of Dent and Gordon, the majority of resources were to focus on the Falcone family, the Joker seen largely as a mercenary who'd be dealt with during the Falcone case, or once Carmine Falcone was brought to justice. Although later historians have criticised Dent and Gordon for thinking like this, it must be remembered that Joker was still seen as a henchman to Falcone himself, his later infamy not being obvious.

Throughout May and into June, the Falcone family continued to suffer as the Gotham Police focused their efforts on bringing down as much as the crime syndicate as they could, believing that the man who had been dubbed 'the Joker' by the press would soon follow. It seemed as if the Joker himself had vanished though, perhaps having had been put off in the following weeks as security around both Dent and Gordon had ramped up considerably. As news continued to leak in that Carmine Falcone was only a few steps away from being arrested for one of his many crimes, attention had turned away from the Joker.

This proved to be a catastrophic error as the Joker finally struck at the Gotham Municipal Courthouse, setting off a bomb just as Dent had set up a press conference to announce that Sal Maroni was agreeing to testify against Carmine Falcone with an arrest warrant having been put out for the gang leader. At the end of the conference, the bomb exploded, killing eight people and injuring a further twelve, including Dent's fiancée, Grace Lemont. Dent himself escaped without harm, but a taunting message that the Joker had left for him seemed to lead to irrationality on Dent's behalf, blaming Falcone for the attempt, declaring Joker's message to be a fraud.

Despite everything having been taken away from him in the last year, Falcone remained in Gotham, appearing in court for his arraignment on the 7th July with a trial being set for two months afterwards. All throughout this time, Dent would publicly, and privately, state that the Joker was nothing more than a hired goon, even as Gordon went against Dent by assigning more and more officers to hunt down the killer. Throughout August, the GCPD would constantly fail in tracking down the Joker, the police having to learn how to deal with a new type of criminal with the Joker always one step ahead of them.

This chase came to an abrupt end on the 27th August when Harvey Dent appeared at a fund raiser for the Wayne Foundation that was meant to raise money for the British war effort. During the dinner at Wayne Tower, the doors were flung open to reveal the Joker himself, flanked by a group of armed thugs, most of whom began a firefight with police stationed to protect the area. The appearance of the man himself caused shock among the crowd, his sheer white skin, shock of green hair and unnaturally red lips were thought originally to be make up, but were eventually to be revealed as a result of a chemical reaction his skin had to an unknown concoction. To those first seeing him in the flesh, the Joker was an unnatural and unnerving sight. 

After making his appearance, the Joker announced his intention to kill Harvey Dent, stating that this was the penalty for not focusing on the greatest threat to Gotham. The attempt to kill Dent was then stopped by the first widely seen and confirmed appearance of the Batman. The Dark Knight wasn't even noticed until he stepped from out the shadows as the Joker and his henchmen searched for Dent, taking down three armed men before the crowd realised what was going on. The first sight of the Batman was of the long cape and cowl shaped in the head of a bat, his symbol of a black bat emblazoned across his grey costume, a striking image to all those present. As he stepped forward to confront the Joker, Batman would unknowingly create an image that would live in Gotham's history as two of the opposing forces faced each other. One, a grim warrior of order, the other, an insane agent of chaos. No one knew that day the legends that would be created about the two thanks to their conflicts, but it was a dramatic start.

The conflict that day was to be averted however, as the Joker flung the few remaining men he had at the Batman, and then promptly tried to escape. After dealing with the thugs in short order, the Batman pursued the leader of the gang, the Joker having managed to hijack a car in the meantime though, his actions having caught the attention of the police. A chase through the streets of Gotham ensued, the police managing to continue the pursuit to the Sprang Bridge. What happened next is still subject to speculation, the most common explanation simply being that the Joker's car swerved out of control after hitting a pothole, other witnesses saying a dark car came out of nowhere, forcing the Joker to drive desperately out of the way. The truth may be impossible to determine, the legends having been reinforced over the decades, but the result was the same, the Joker's car went out of control and crashed off the bridge into the river below.

Although he would later become notorious for escaping such situations, Gotham had yet to experience the Joker's almost supernatural ability to cheat death. Due to this, after a brief search of the river which only resulted in the car being found, the Joker was declared dead by Gotham Police Department, his body washed out to sea. Batman too had vanished, going back into the shadows from where he had come from. For Harvey Dent, this had been a sign that Falcone was on the run and his drive to put the man on trial became an outright obsession, working day and night to make his case as airtight as possible, When September rolled around, all of Gotham looked to see how it would turn out.

From the outset, Harvey Dent was a target of Falcone hitmen, as were the members of the jury. Sightings of the Batman greatly increased as the attempts to stop the trial were halted, the Batman constantly clashing with the armed Falcone men out in the open and in the dark nights of Gotham. It soon became apparent that the Falcone empire was dying in the streets with Carmine Falcone having to use his dwindling resources for his defence at the trial and hiring whoever he could to try and kill Dent. All these attempts failed and it was noted by several people at the trial that Carmine was looking worse throughout as the pressure got to him and his men failed to finish the job.

The most anticipated part of the trial came with Sal Maroni being put on the stand. As one of the key lieutenants of the Falcone family, the testimony of such a man promised to be devastating to the defence. Maroni's day in court was set for the 19th December of that year, supposedly to testify against his old boss and help finally bring down the Falcone family once and for all. It was, tragically, not to be.

Having been faking an illness for several weeks, Maroni had managed to get permission to take a bottle of what was supposedly medicine into court with him. At some point, the medicine had been exchanged with acid, giving Maroni a weapon to be used against Dent during his time on the stand. At a dramatic point in the trial, after Dent had questioned him as to who was behind the Joker appearing in Gotham, Maroni staged a coughing fit, pulling the medicine bottle from his jacket pocket before throwing it at Dent's face. Able to turn away, Dent nevertheless suffered from the entire left side of his face being hit by the acid and instantly went into shock from the pain.

In one fell swoop, Carmine Falcone had eliminated his hated enemy as Dent was instantly sent to a hospital where he would stay for months in order to heal. The trial was dismissed as Maroni obviously wasn't going to testify and so the key part of evidence went with him. The act had also reminded people why the Falcone family was to be feared. No matter who you were, no matter how successful you might have been in the past, the Falcone family would find a way to destroy you. With the case dismissed by mid-January, Falcone was once more a free man. Adding the final insult to injury was the bouquet Falcone sent to Dent while the latter was in hospital, half the flowers were missing.

While Maroni was charged with the heinous attack on Dent, the city's attention quickly moved to other parts of the world with the attack on Pearl Harbour finally bringing America into the war against the Axis nations. With the country now looking towards war, the focus shifted from the Falcones to the greater enemy outside the country. Carmine even tried to regain some good will by offering the resources of his business fronts as an aid to the war effort.

As he settled down back in his mansion, there was still two enemies Falcone had yet to deal with, the Batman and James Gordon. Both men were still loose and free to harass his operations and Falcone himself was still under pressure due to the damage had taken over the last two years. Yes, the respect and fear had been brought with the attack on Dent, but the money was almost dry and it would take some time to rebuild the revenue streams lost due to the battles with the law.

As 1942 went on, Falcone was forced to be content with laying low, the GCPD still forced its way into Falcone business, keeping the crime family on the defensive. Carmine may have found the situation humiliating as time went on, but was forced to tolerate it as, even with him still a free man, Gotham had changed. Without the access to the wealth he had relied on all his life, Falcone found that even formerly reliable corrupt politicians and police officers refused to have anything to do with him if he couldn't line their pockets.

Despite the early triumph, 1942 was something of a struggle for Carmine Falcone as he tried to regain his former power and prosperity. But, any attempt to set up a gambling den, brothel or union racket was, if not stopped, then forced to a crawl by the efforts of Batman or the GCPD. A stalemate was soon reached by April of that year. While the War across the world was heating up, the Carmine family found that it was hard to reach its former heights while the GCPD and Batman found that they couldn't nail the top level of the Carmine family.

It promised to be a long and drawn out conflict, the city holding its breath as two wars, one far away and one taking place in its very streets, took place before them. Sightings of Batman greatly increased as he was seen fighting Carmine family members, the number of arrests of people trying to shake down businesses for protection money greatly increasing during this period. One of these battles would bring in one of Batman's more physical foes, the man known as Killer Croc.

His real name was actually Waylon Jones, his more famous moniker coming from his appearance. The man who would become Killer Croc was born with an extreme case of Icthyosis Vulgaris, a disorder which caused the scales on his skin that he became infamous for. Having worked as a circus freak for most of his life, an argument with a circus goer in 1939 led to Jones killing the man and then going on the run. His path led to Gotham where his superior size and strength made him an ideal person for a member of the Falcone family. Tough, strong and with an appearance that made him stand out, Jones became notorious for his brutality against the type of people he believed had mocked him his entire life. 

It was on the 15th April that Batman and Croc would have their legendary clash as Croc's actions were brought out into the open. An attempt to shake down a bar for protection money gained far more interest than normal as several of the patrons fled at the sight of Croc, spreading the news quickly. A few rather unwise comments about Croc's condition from some of the rowdier bar patrons soon had him attacking those around him, leading to an outright bar brawl which was momentarily stopped by the appearance of Batman.

An order for the Falcone family members to stand down was met with the predictable hostility and the 'Battle of McSweeney's' (The name of the bar) started. This conflict stands out from Batman's regular battles with criminals as it happened out in broad daylight in public, with numerous witnesses. The statements differ as they're bound to do, witnesses either in fear or awe of both men as they started fighting in the bar, soon spilling out into the streets as that was wrecked. All agree on the fact though that Batman dispatched the Falcone members with ease, using his martial arts skills and designed weaponry, projectile weapons in the shape of bats. One of these weapons was taken by the bar owner and hangs on the wall to this day in a place of pride.

Only after Batman took down the six men he had brought with him did Jones make his first moves towards Batman, the fist fight which followed utterly destroying the remains of the bar. The fight finally burst out onto the street, literally, as Batman threw Jones through the door, sending him to the pavement where the two continued to pummel at each other. Witnesses noted that both men used everything around them as a weapon, whether it be a loose brick on the ground to Batman throwing Jones through the windshield of a nearby car.

The fight came to an end when Batman sent Jones careening into a wall, slamming his head repeatedly into the brick in a way that might have killed an ordinary man. With Jones though, he suffered a minor concussion that was treated after the police arrived onto the scene. The Batman had vanished, leaving only Jones and his men to be picked up amid the wreckage of the bar and the surrounding environment.

The Battle of McSweeny's would go onto become a key part of the Batman's legend, his first time being seen by the general public was one of a knock down brawl between him and a man who would also feature heavily in Gotham's immediate future. Each telling of the story grew, with the entire streets having been torn down in some people's take on it. In truth, the damage was more to the inside of the bar and various cars that were unfortunate enough to be parked near the building at the time of the fight. All these were covered in a donation by the Wayne Foundation, which had recently set up a grant system to help people who had suffered damages due to actions relating to the Batman.

With Jones taken away by police, the Falcone family had once more reached a stalemate as one of its chief lieutenants was waiting for his trial. Damaged, but not broken, Falcone stewed in his mansion, still trying to get things back on track as Gotham was locked in the grip of the war overseas. It was during this low level war between the mob and forces of law, that the event that would send Gotham into the chaos which defined it for the next four years occurred. 

On the evening of the 4th May, police received reports of a gun battle in the Falcone mansion. Twelve cars full of people had struck at the heart of Falcone power, shooting everyone as they broke through the defences of the estate and went towards the centre. By the time the police had arrived on the scene, it was too late and they only found the bodies of those who had been killed in the fighting and the man who had orchestrated it all. The man who had managed to destroy the power of the mob and had killed Carmine Falcone, allegedly by his own hand.

On the first anniversary of his first appearance in Gotham, the Joker had returned.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Another update and introducing two more of Batman's villains with Killer Croc and Joker. As you could have probably guessed by now, I used a fair number of elements from Year one as inspiration for this and the preceding chapters and it this goes into other parts of Batman media over the next chapters as well.


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter Five: Year Four (1942-1943)   
_“You need order in this world in order to survive! The criminals which infest our streets thrive when the police can't do their jobs. The rise of vigilantism is a sign that we need more order! The police are the first and should be the last line of defence against anarchy, not the fake heroes that act outside the law. To avoid chaos, order must have overwhelming strength!”_

_Sergeant Leona Ozaki, speaking in her controversial campaign for the Japanese Diet in 1996_

As Americans fought overseas against external enemies, Gotham would be torn apart by its own factions and armies as the death of Carmine Falcone opened up a power vacuum like little else. The world outside had the conflict known as World War Two. For Gotham though, this was the period that many referred to as 'The Year of Hell'. This would be the period when chaos almost ruled the city and the madness which Gotham would become infamous for really gained notoriety.

The death of Carmine Falcone was the instigator of the chaos, his presence having held together the mob after the repeated losses it had to endure throughout the last three years. Even before the Joker was taken away in cuffs, ripples were being sent throughout the city as news of the attack on the Falcone mansion was common knowledge by morning. While the fallout of this would lead to the events that would follow, the spark which would light the tinder would be the Joker himself.

Having been the sole survivor of the battle in the mansion (Ballistics would reveal that Joker had killed at least six men on his own side, possibly to claim credit as being the only one left), the Joker offered no resistance when he was taken away by police. Instantly, the station the Joker was being held in was mobbed by the press and by members of the public, all wanting a look at the man who had killed Gotham's most powerful criminal. After several hours of interrogation, the Joker was quickly charged and prepared for arraignment, Gordon wanting him under secure custody as soon as possible. Walked out of the station by the police, the Joker was seen by the immense crowd around the building, even as the GCPD had tried to prevent this by taking him through the back door.

It was here that Joker showed his art of manipulation as clearly as he ever called out to the reporters, claiming to have stolen $2,000,000 from the Falcone family and would give it to the person or persons who helped him escape from custody. Despite the best efforts of James Gordon, the papers reported the comments and it was spread throughout Gotham by word of mouth anyway. What followed was an eerie peace as the police tried to desperately organise a way to get Joker out of Gotham before those who had heard his call for freedom answered it. The death of Carmine Falcone had left the mob fractured and with its previous difficulties, many rank and file members were hurting for money. The Joker's offer was tempting to even life long Falcone family members and as the police tried to prepare arraigning the Joker out of the city, forces were gathering to stop them.

Despite the best efforts of Gordon, there were still leaks in the GCPD and even though decoy vans were sent out, some gangs managed to get the actual time of the Joker leaving police lock up. On the 11th May, the Joker began his journey from police custody to the jail outside Gotham where he would be waiting for his trial. It was only six blocks from the station when the van and its escort came under attack. A group of six men struck with concentrated fire-power and forced the van to escape while part of the escort dealt with the ambush.

This happened twice more as hardened thugs struck at the van and its remaining escort, forcing the forces guarding the prisoner to weaken as they broke away to deal with the attacks. In the background, the Batman was ever active as the criminals who ambushed the van and its escort were taken down in part due to his efforts. The attacks that were stopped were done so due due to his efforts, witnesses noting that the shoot outs were brought to an end by an unseen force taking out the attackers before a glance being seen of the Dark Knight as he continued to follow the Joker.

But, even Batman could not keep up and the third ambush finally forced the police escort to a halt as a truck crashed into it, killing the driver and injuring the other police officers in it. Within minutes, the Joker had been broken free and put into a car that sped off into the night. Despite the best efforts of Batman and the GCPD, they were unable to stop the culprits and the Joker escaped. After having the madman in their grasp, the GCPD had failed to stop him from getting away while rallying the criminal element to his side.

What unity the Joker had inspired in the criminal element rapidly vanished however. With the one prize keeping several factions together, Joker's millions, having been lost to others, the power vacuum from the death of Carmine Falcone and the blows given to the mob now pushed things over the edge. Divided, beaten and desperate, the remainder of what was once the East Coast's most powerful mafia family turned on itself in a viscous civil war. The first shots were likely fired the night of the Joker's escape, the bodies of the men who rescued him were found the morning after the operation, riddled with bullets, lying beside an empty chest. After his escape, it appears as if the Joker had another laugh at someone else's expense, manipulating those who had helped him to kill each other over a false prize.

Not long after, the actual fighting started between the remnants of the Falcone mob. Shots were being fired in the streets as men struggled over territory and rackets. Within the month after the Joker had escaped, Gotham's streets were soon rife with violence as the police were busy trying to track down the madman and contain the fighting. Whatever attempts there were to stop the gang war were hampered by the threat of the Joker hanging over people's heads like the sword of Damocles. A raid on a chemical factory in early June saw the only clue left behind being a joker playing card, ramping up fears over what he was planning as the summer dragged on as similar raids on other chemical plants took place.

That soon faded into the background as the mob war dragged on, shootings occurred on a weekly basis with the deaths soon mounting and innocents caught in the crossfire. A bloody swathe was cut through the city as the gangs tore themselves apart, June seeing reports of Batman appear constantly to stop what fights he could. It was at this point, on the night of the 20th June, that one of the most iconic elements of the Batman myth was seen. A signal, bearing a bat symbol was seen in the sky, originating from the police headquarters in Tricorner Yards, casting a lone light in a dark sky. 

The Signal (Or Bat-Signal as it was dubbed by Gotham residents), was claimed as a technical fault by Commissioner Gordon, who still denied any link between the GCPD and the Batman. His story would change over time, claiming that it had a psychological impact upon Gotham's criminal element. While the Commissioner contradicted himself, there was no doubt that the latter reason was true, the signal certainly had an impact on criminals and other people alike. People claimed that through the summer of 1942, seeing the Signal in the sky reminded them that Batman was out there and fighting for them. It was a sign of hope over the following months, one that was sorely needed. The Signal appeared on an almost nightly basis throughout June and July, coinciding with increased sightings of Batman as he and the GCPD steadily brought things under control, arrests and prosecutions against the factions happening constantly. The bloodshed began to wane with the pressure being put on the different sides depleted them of enough men and resources to force a lull in the fighting.

By early-August, the claimants of the Falcone throne had been whittled down to two men, Rupert Thorne and Arnold Stromwell. Both had been made men in the Falcone family, but their lack of Italian heritage had prevented them from raising higher in the ranks. The damage done to the Falcone family thanks to the police, the incarceration of Maroni and the death of Carmine Falcone himself meant that their rise from minor roles in the family to leading members of the remains was meteoric and bloody. They had managed to stand tall amid the ruins of Carmine Falcone's former empire, their former comrades all either dead or in custody. After a bloody two months, it looked as if peace would be secured as both men sent out peace feelers to each other before they could be bled white. 

The hopes for peace would be shattered with the reappearance of an old enemy of the Falcone family. Harvey Dent had spent nine long months in a hospital bed, in agony, delirious and his mind near breaking point. Just when it seemed as if he was guaranteed his greatest victory and an end organised crime in Gotham, it had been snatched away from him, leaving him a disfigured and broken man, as well as blind in one eye. He had gone through nine surgeries to simply help survive the injuries the acid had done to him, as well as try to repair as much damage as possible. While Dent survived, the damage to one half of his face was irreversible.

The ninth operation, performed in July, had been done in the hopes to deal with the scarring that marred his face. The attempt sadly failed as the worst of the scarring remained and the failure finally caused Dent to snap, breaking out of the hospital and vanishing into the night. Although it wasn't known at the time, it was soon discovered that Harvey Dent had had a history of mental instability stemming from an abusive childhood. Beaten by his father for the tiniest infraction, Dent had done his best to always obey the rules. The anger and resentment he had felt had been repressed over the years, shown only in occasional outbursts when the pressure of dealing with the Falcone family got too much. The repressed emotions finally found a way to show themselves with the scarring as the two, radically separate parts of Dent's personality were now given outlets in the form of his physical appearance. They would duel with each other constantly, Dent resorting to a coin flip to resolve the conflict within him. 

Having escaped from the hospital, only one thing came to Dent's mind, revenge. He wanted to kill all those involved with the Falcone family still alive and cared nothing for those who stood in his way. Gathering what few resources he could, the crooks who had survived the blood letting and weren't affiliated with the remaining factions as Dent looked to get his revenge. His decision on who he would strike at first was decided by the aforementioned coin toss, a double headed silver dollar which Dent had previously kept as a good luck charm. Scarred on one side by a knife, Dent flipped and it was Arnold Stromwell who had the misfortune to be the target.

By the 25th August, a fragile peace had settled over Gotham as Stromwell and Thorne had agreed to a truce while they tried to recover from the arrests and bloodletting. Stromwell had retired to his penthouse in Old Gotham, After a year of climbing up the ranks in the Falcone family and months of being the target of numerous assassination attempts, Stromwell looked to finally be able to relax with his family and regather his strength, unknowing of what was to come. Having investigated Stromwell before the attack at the trial, Dent was well familiar with the man's personal habits and chose to strike just as he was arrived back from a meeting with his lieutenants. Knowing that Stromwell always smoked outside when at home due to his son's asthma, Dent also knew that the gang leader always stopped for a cigar before going inside for the evening. 

According to witnesses, the attack came as Dent approached Stromwell himself. Amazed to see Dent alive and in his current state, the gang leader and his men were stunned and focused solely on the man before them. It was this which gave Dent the edge, able to pull out a gun and shoot down Stromwell before he could react, Dent's hired goons soon doing the same to the gang leader's men. In one evening, Dent managed to decapitate one remaining force of the gangs in New York and add another agent of chaos into Gotham's already manic situation.

The aftermath of the attack sent shockwaves throughout Gotham as Harvey Dent, the crusader against crime and leading light for the people, had become a murderer. While there was sympathy for him from various corners of society, his actions had put him beyond the pale. Added to this was the fact that Dent was seen flipping a coin after murdering Stromwell, deciding on whether or not to kill the witnesses as well. Thankfully for those present, the coin came up clean side and Dent and his gang escaped instead. The instability showed by a man previously respected so much by the city unnerved many and he was instantly labelled as too dangerous for regular people to approach. As if to put the cap on Dent's tragedy, the press gave him the nickname 'Two-Face', adding a tone of mockery to his downfall.

Having killed Stromwell, Dent had shown his hand in going after the remains of the Falcone family. It would be obvious that Thorne would be next and he became a priority for the police to bring in. Commissioner Gordon's diaries would reveal later on that he felt some responsibility in what had happened to Dent and that he wanted to bring his former ally in before he fell any further. To that end, Thorne was offered police protection to his surprise and Gordon's own aggravation. A trap was created for Dent with officers lying in wait around Thorne's own compound in the Upper East Side of Gotham, knowing that Dent's singled mindedness would lead to a short wait.

Barely three days after Stromwell's death, Dent indeed struck, going in guns blazing as he and his gang looked to overwhelm the security with sheer fire-power. The police force managed to hold the group down before the Batman interfered, reports saying he jumped into the fray, landing in the middle of Dent's gang as he leapt from a nearby second storey window. The firefight mixed with hand to hand combat as the police and Batman put pressure on Dent's gang, the group being taken out one by one until only Dent himself remained. Shooting until the end, it was a blow from the Batman that sent Dent to the floor, ending his vengeful rampage, for the time being.

Arrested and charged with murder, among other crimes, Dent's capture was tinged with the tragic nature of it all. That this man, who had strove for justice and done so much to clean up Gotham, was now a madman who had to be brought in. Various police officers noted that the Batman, long believed to be nothing if not stoic under the extreme circumstances he placed himself in, appeared to be hit hard by what had happened before quickly vanishing into the night.

With Dent's arrest, the city was allowed a short period of peace. Rupert Thorne was now head of what remained of the crime syndicates, although the chaos had crippled the resources and forces available to them. Despite the fact that organised crime was now in the descent, there was still fear in Gotham. Outside of the wartime fears of a sneak German attack across the Atlantic Ocean, it was the Joker who was the subject of the worries of Gotham's inhabitants. In the months since his escape, the madman had kept himself to limited raids on chemical plants or even pharmacies. The raids took what were apparently unconnected substances that very few could find a way to put together.

One of those who could however, was Dr. Jonathan Crane. 

A professor of both psychology and chemistry, Crane was a Gotham native who had excelled in academic pursuits throughout his entire life. He had published papers on phobias, becoming the leading expert in the US on the subject. He had also looked into how chemistry could effect the brain, changing perceptions and whether they could induce or remove the feelings of fear with the uses of hallucinogenics. While hired by the Canadian military for consultation on such a project at the outbreak of World War II, Crane's willingness to go to extremes for his experiments saw his projects shut down within months and he narrowly escaped prosecution. 

Upon returning to Gotham in mid-1940, Crane found his career languishing as his methods were highly criticised for their extreme measures. He eventually took a job at Arkham Asylum, Gotham's local mental health institute after being rejected for a position at the local university. There, he continued his experiments with chemistry, using the asylum's inmates as guinea pigs. In late 1941, he perfected a gas that could cause anyone who breathed it to suffer from violent hallucinations, centred around their greatest fears as it stimulated the amygdala. Long term intake of the gas resulted in irreversible insanity, causing Crane's victims to fall into an almost catatonic state as the constant terror broke their minds.

Crane's obsession for terror went even further in Gotham's 'Year of Hell', the chaos in the city and Batman's increased sightings inspired him to mimic the crime fighter. First, he needed greater resources though, using one of his patients, a former lackey to the Joker, to contact the criminal after his escape from the GCPD. In return for Crane giving the Joker a place to hide from the law, the Joker would raid various chemical plants and stores so that Crane could build up a large supply of his gas. With no one knowing why the Joker was making these raids, it was impossible to see what items he was stealing until it was too late.

Less than two weeks after Dent was arrested, on the 10th September, Crane made his first mark on the city. Carrying on with his theme of fear, he donned a straw mask and rough hewn outfit, later claiming to have been inspired by the Batman with his own costume as a way to strike terror into others. Walking the streets of Gotham's Battergate, the worst for dangerous crime, Crane must have struck an almost comical figure, at least at first. Dressed as if he was early for Halloween, gangly limbs and straw hair poking out from under his hat, it's no surprise it took some time for people to approach him, perhaps thinking it was some kind of prank. When someone did approach him though, they would be the first victim of the Scarecrow.

Whether it was to mock, to steal or simply talk, the man who approached Crane only received a face full of his terror gas for his troubles. The effect was instant as the man was reduced to a screaming wreck within seconds, Crane's field test of the gas on an unrestrained subject a complete success. Having fled the scene, Crane's role in the crime was suspected due to his past, but unable to be proven as police records show. Had he left it there, Crane almost certainly would have remained a free man until his experiments in Arkham were revealed. But he couldn't stop himself and a week after the first attack, Crane struck again, this time using his gas on a restaurant full of people by throwing a bomb through the window.

Out of the thirty people in the restaurant at the time, eight people died due to the wave of panic gripping them, one of them a child. The rest had to undergo extensive treatment with some suffering from life long after effects of the gas. The attack caused a wave of panic throughout the city, which Crane had hoped for and although the police tried to close in on him, it seemed that the doctor had managed to escape from their grasp as no direct evidence could be found linking him to the crime. That was, at least, until the Joker resurfaced.

Having to wait in the shadows in the months after his escape, the Joker had finally grown tired of people taking away his limelight. With Crane making headlines as the Scarecrow, the Joker decided to remind people why he was feared with his own attack on Gotham. It was infuriating to some that little is known about the Joker's past as his expertise in various fields hint at numerous possibilities, but it's impossible to confirm any of them. Chemistry is one such field as the Joker revealed that it wasn't just Crane he had been stealing chemicals for. The Joker had been trying his hand at his own experiments and had come up with a concoction just as horrifying as the Scarecrow's.

With the city still fearing what the Scarecrow could do next, the Joker added his own brand of chaos into the mix by striking at the police themselves a week after Crane's second attack. Wishing to upset the order that appeared to be settling over Gotham, the Joker hit a police station with his own brand of nerve gas. Nicknamed 'Smiley' by the press, the gas had the effect of poisoning people, forcing the muscles in their face to contort into a rictus grin as the fast acting gas poisoned them. Death was painful and victims languished for several minutes as many would later tragically discover.

Twenty people died in the gas attack by Joker, two of them were people who just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time as opposed to being actual officers and it had the effect of putting him back in the headlines. It also had the effect of giving the police the evidence they needed to track down Crane for his crimes. In the attempt to escape notice from the police, the Joker abandoned his car in the back streets of Gotham, leaving behind the canister which contained some of his Smiley gas. Whether by accident or design, the Joker had left behind a canister stamped with 'Property of Arkham Asylum' on the side, giving the police all the reason needed to investigate the institute.

They were not alone in doing so as the Batman accompanied them, which turned out to be a blessing. Crane had become aware of the police closing in on him and had taken action to counter this, rigging the asylum with bombs that would have let off his terror gas in such quantities that would have rendered the police, patients and orderlies in the facility incurably insane. Crane hadn't even allowed a hostage situation to develop, instead donning a gas mask and waiting for the police to come into the facility so he could set off the gas attack. He was stopped in this attempt as Batman had arrived earlier than the police, infiltrating the facility and breaking into Crane's office. One punch which led to a broken jaw for Crane and his scheme was hastily stopped as he was quickly arrested.

The revelation of Crane's actions brought Arkham Asylum under great scrutiny from the public, with Mayor Reeves forced to start a committee looking into conditions there. The full horror of Crane's actions would come to be known over the next year, with the evidence exposing him as the monster he really was. Desperate to appear to be doing something of value, Reeves turned the Arkham issue into a major part of his campaign to reassess his image in the aftermath of the Falcone family's downfall. Forever worried that Gordon would finally be able to find evidence to arrest him as well, Reeves did whatever he could to distance himself from the mob wars and corrupt goings on in Gotham's government.

September gave way to October with the Joker still at large and Gotham frightened for his next big scheme. While the war overseas slowly managed to dominate the headlines once more, there was still the fear that the Joker would strike again, even with the police and Batman searching for him constantly. With the Joker's absence however, another kind of evil struck the city with the discovery of the body of a teenage girl in the streets of Tricorner. 

The girl was a homeless runaway, one of many in Gotham itself and her death may have caused little comment if not for people's hysteria over what the Joker's continued liberty. Any crime that could be linked to the madman, was and Mayor Reeves instantly ordered a high profile investigation into the girl's death. This wouldn't lead to the Joker himself, but an evil that still sent shockwaves through the city. The runaway had been known as Alice, with witnesses having seen her as a nuisance and minor thief in the markets of Gotham. Investigation by the police revealed that she had been part of a larger group that was seen around the city, acting as one in taking small valuables.

While Commissioner Gordon quickly concluded that the Joker wasn't behind this, he still poured resources into the investigation, no doubt helped by the Batman. Gordon's suspicions were all but confirmed when the Joker, having read an editorial accusing him of the crime, broke into the home of the editor of the _Gotham Gazette_ and forced him to write a full retraction before cutting off eight of his fingers. As the Joker would put it, he didn't commit his crimes and hide from them, he did them in full view of people where they'd know it was him. Killing off a single teenager and dumping their body lacked his own sense of macabre and attempt to grab the limelight.

The act, appalling as it was, allowed Gordon to focus police resources on chasing up the children, finally getting a lead when a second body turned up of another teenage girl. The second death spurred on efforts with mid-October finding a break in the case when the old sewers of Gotham yielded a terrible secret. A gang of children, having runaway from broken homes, had come under the influence of one Michael Ruegger, later known as the 'Sewer King'. Ruegger used the children as his own personal army of thieves and slaves, setting them to work stealing from the well off of Gotham and brutally punishing those who failed to meet his standards.

The police had managed to find one of the children so abused by Ruegger who claimed to have been found by Batman before being handed over to the police. With the information the child had given them, the police found the remaining gang and Ruegger himself, who was in a sorry state. According to the testimony of the children, Batman arrived before the police and confronted Ruegger, instigating a fight that left the Sewer King battered and bloodied. So badly was Ruegger beaten by the Batman that he wasn't able to walk for a month after the fight. It amounted to a brutal attack on a man that was running what amounted to a modern day slave ring and frequently abused children mentally and physically. Vigilantism reared its uglier side at that moment as Ruegger was almost certainly lucky not to have been killed.

Taken into police custody, Ruegger was the prime suspect in the murders, although his tale still had a dark turn. While the children under his control had lived in awful conditions and barely had enough to eat, Ruegger had lived while in private rooms with money taken from the stolen goods, as well as another, lucrative side line. In return for an increased amount of money coming in, Ruegger would find suitable girls to send to his patron, Professor Jervis Tetch of Gotham University.

To anyone who knew him, Tetch was a polite, timid man who had a talent for chemistry and a love for the works of Lewis Carroll. What was behind the appearance was a man with a dark obsession for playing out the role of the Mad Hatter at a tea party, young girls taking on the role of Alice only to be disposed of afterwards. Tetch had been targeted by one of Ruegger's thieves, but had managed to keep the child, a young girl, coincidentally named Alice, as his first victim. An expert on drugs, Tetch had acted out his twisted fantasies by using the chemicals he crafted to make her open to suggestion. After getting the truth from Alice, Tetch killed her and made contact with Ruegger, making an offer for more girls in return for money.

Having accepted, Ruegger was quick to sell Tetch out rather than shoulder the blame for the crimes. By the time the police had managed to get Ruegger's testimony though, Tetch had heard of the arrest and quickly fled, going underground as he turned to his expertise in chemistry in order to make a living. His drugs, able to make people highly open to suggestion of any kind while proving them with a strong high, proved to be something he was able to sell via Rupert Thorne, who himself was eager for any kind of income revenue while trying to rebuild the Falcone empire.

The crime shocked even hardened Gotham to its core. An apparently respectable man like Tetch had shown that evil didn't come in the form of the mob or a madman like Joker. The city had been battered throughout the year and as thoughts turned to Christmas, Tetch's continued freedom and the threat of the Joker put a damper on any celebrations. The fact that the Joker had once more started to raid chemical plants ratcheted up the fear incredibly. Considering that the Joker simply smashed into the plants and grabbed everything not nailed down or on fire, actually finding out the chemical products that he used for his Smiley gas was a hard task. Along with other small strikes such as the attack on the editor of the Gotham Gazette, the Joker kept the city on the brink of panic.

The Joker finally did make his move on New Year's Eve, having stolen a truck and loading it with his Smiley gas, he started towards Gotham's city centre where a New Year's party was taking place. Thankfully, the alarm had been raised over the stolen truck and the police pursued, a dark, armoured car soon joining them. From the outskirts of the city, it became a desperate race against time to stop the Joker before he could unleash an attack that would kill hundreds of people.

A police barrier was hastily erected, forcing the Joker off the main streets where he was hastily boxed in by various cars, forcing him to crash into a building. By no small miracle, the gas didn't go off and the Joker himself was alive and largely unharmed. This only allowed the Batman to get close though, driving past the police rapidly surrounding the crashed truck and being first to confront the Joker. No words were exchanged this time, it simply being a case of the Batman getting in close to put the Joker down with several well aimed blows. The New Year rang in with the Joker once more being taken into custody, a sense of triumph and relief being felt throughout the city as the news spread.

For a time, it seemed as if that things would finally calm down and Gotham could settle after the upheavals of the last year. January remained rather quiet even with the manhunt for Tetch continuing although other developments occurred. Mayor Reeves, the last leftover of Falcone power in the city, tried to make himself know throughout the peace, claiming what credit he could as 1944 was the year of Gotham's mayoral elections and without the Falcone family backing him up, Reeves knew he had little chance of re-election.

Reeves had offered little in the way of leadership as the Year of Hell had unfolded. He had hidden in his office while Jim Gordon had taken the lead in putting an end to the violence as best he could. Reeves only tried to limit the damage after the worst of the violence was over and was derided by both press and public for his actions, or lack thereof. As he floundered throughout the first half of the year, Reeves tried to think of anything that would counter his bad public image, leading to several disasters for the city.

As Reeves frantically looked for ideas, the trial of the Joker was being prepared with the madman being placed under lock and key in Gotham's own Blackgate maximum security prison. Gordon took no chances as he and those around him were determined there were to be no other escapes until the Joker was sent to the chair. A flurry of interest focused on the Joker as he was held in prison. His unknown background, crimes and the thought that he might pull off another escape aroused the curiosity of many people and caused numerous headaches for Gordon himself.

The spectacle of the Joker's detainment and upcoming trial lasted until the 20th March, when the body of Rupert Thorne was found washed up on the east shore of Gotham River. The crime lord's death came as a complete shock to the city and most expected another round of gang war to break out almost instantly. To the relief of many, this didn't come around as Thorne's death was the result of a swift and merciless coup from an unexpected source.

Oswald Cobblepot was the last of the Cobblepot line. An only child, his parents had died with the rise of the Falcone family, leaving him with a much diminished estate. From once running Gotham as their own personal fiefdom, the last Cobblepot had been left with old and tattered estates and several serious debts. Short, stout and with a prominent nose, Oswald had been bullied as a child and given the moniker 'Penguin' by his schoolmates. What was once a term of mockery soon became one to fear however.

After his parents' death, Cobblepot sold off what estates he could to manage the debts and then turned to other means to support himself. He entered into a deal with Carmine Falcone in 1937, allowing one of his remaining properties to become a front for their cash, an abandoned up scale house being converted into a night club and restaurant called 'The Iceberg Lounge'. Showing good business acumen, Cobblepot actually ran the Lounge as a legitimate business, managing to earn a tidy profit on it along with the laundered money.

When the GCPD stepped up their attacks on the Carmine family, Cobblepot made sure to keep his business as legitimate looking as possible, keeping his profits steady while refusing to put Falcone money through his club. Using his new found wealth, Cobblepot put together his own gang, breaking from Carmina Falcone completely during his trial and having the force to prevent the mob boss from trying to claw back his former business front. After Carmine Falcone's death and during the Year of Hell, Cobblepot continued to gain in wealth and influence by edging into the rackets that the gang wars had left alone.

Rupert Thorne had spent the months after his taking over of the remains of the Falcone family to try and reclaim what had been lost. In his efforts to do so, he had offered an alliance to Cobblepot. Remaining on the fence over whether or not he would become an outright crime lord, Cobblepot invited Thorne to the Iceberg Lounge to discuss terms. Believing that Cobblepot still wanted to remain as legitimate as possible and not expecting any danger, Throne went to the club after hours and he, and his bodyguards, were swiftly killed off.

The rest of Cobblepot's forces then struck, using leverage and money to sway or kill any remaining Thorne loyalists, although there were few of them. Within one evening, Cobblepot had killed off a rival and secured his position as leader of the remaining crime family in Gotham City. To all outside appearances, he was still Oswald Cobblepot, businessman and owner of Gotham's most popular nightclub. Behind the front however, was a man determined to eclipse Carmine Falcone's influence. In this, he had an advantage in the form of Jervis Tetch and his own dark brilliance.

The drugs Tetch had developed were the sort of thing Cobblepot saw great potential in using them for business and keeping his own ranks away from the more routine crimes. Slipping them into the drink of a patron at his nightclub allowed them to become drowsy and easily swayed to do things such trafficking stolen goods to Cobblepot's agents. Those who were caught were unable to mount much of a defence as their memories were clouded by the effects of the drugs themselves. Although initially sceptical, Commissioner Gordon soon changed his opinion after enough people told the same story with similar details. At that point, the Signal was shone in the skies above Gotham, bringing Batman into the case.

As ever with Batman's roles in these matters, it's hard to determine how much influence he had in investigating and tracking down those responsible. Certainly, he was free of the rules and regulations that ordinary police have to go by, but even he must have had his limits. Gordon's diaries make little reference to what help he gave to Batman over the years, but through the obfuscation, it's possible to see hints that case files and information were given to the Batman on a regular basis for such cases. From this, we can surmise that his skills in deduction certainly matched his fighting prowess.

The reports of people being turned to crime against their wills soon spread throughout Gotham as another panic started, paranoia growing as rumours spread that the concoction could be found in foods. Needing a result, Gordon amped up the manhunt for the source of the drugs, trying to find the connection between them and Cobblepot. Although nothing concrete was initially found, the 2nd April saw Gordon order police units to converge on an address beside the Amusement Mile pier. A small apartment was raided and in it, Tetch was found, battered and bruised with lab equipment intact around him. Two more men, hired thugs, were also in the apartment and the police quickly took everything as evidence, ending the supply of drugs to the city.

Tetch and the men quickly turned to lawyers to help them, being able to get some of the most expensive in the city. Cobblepot was eager to keep his men quiet and loyal, even using his influence to get Waylon Jones released some months previously with his lawyer claiming that he had been acting in self defence against the Batman's attack. Jones then became one of Cobblepot's most brutal lieutenants with those around him reporting he was eager to have another round with the Batman.

The Year of Hell was the worst in Gotham's history as far as fear and death toll went. Those who died as a direct cause of the gang warfare or the actions of the Joker and other such extreme personalities totalled at 834 people with a further 413 injured. This total was almost triple the annual murder rate of the city and had a long term impact on how Gotham was perceived as a lawless hive of criminals. While the amount of crime would drop significantly over the next year, the reputation took a long time to shift.

With such death and destruction, it's not surprising that many within Gotham remember this year as the worst in the city's long and storied history. Throughout it, many citizens claimed it was the thought of the Batman that helped them keep hope that things would turn out alright. The madness that consumed the city was countered by Batman's role as a silent avenger of those who had been done wrong and bringer of hope. As dark and obsessed as Batman must have been to carry out his mission, the positive impact he had in this year alone shows that he was a force for good in the city.

With the drug supply halted, it looked as if Gotham may finally enjoy some peace. That was until Mayor Reeves tried to step in and focus his time in office on one factor, that the Batman had brought all these criminals to Gotham. In a speech condemning the recent outbreak of 'freak-ish crime', Reeves promised to bring down the one responsible for it all and that he had contacted an expert to guide the GCPD in their efforts to do so.

On the 1st May, the expert arrived after having been out of Gotham for over fifteen years. Out of all of Batman's foes, Edward Nygma would be one whose rivalry was most well documented, and intriguing. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Much longer than the last one, get to introduce many of the Rogue's Gallery here, some famous and one or two that are a bit more obscure. Hope everyone enjoys.


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter Six: Year Five (1943-1944)   
_“To many, our enemies are the ones who help define us. Those who we oppose and are opposed by supposedly make us the people we are for rising to such challenges. I disagree with this. It is not our enemies who define us, but our own actions and thoughts. As this nation strives to be greater in people and prosperity, everyone will realise that we define ourselves alone.”_

  
_President William 'Billy' Batson's State of The Union to Congress , 1985_

To those who'd survived the Year of Hell, Mayor Reeves bringing in Edward Nygma as a way to catch the Batman struck many as sheer folly, at best. Reeves did have a strategy in mind though, he had spent the Year of Hell hiding from danger and was widely seen as corrupt, the last bastion of Falcone power. His re-election chances were slim at best and with just over a year to turn around his numbers, Reeves was willing to go to great extremes. He started with a campaign to destroy Batman's reputation, hoping that by putting the blame on the Dark Knight for the chaos that had inflicted the city, he'd be able to paint himself as Gotham's true hero.

Nygma was brought in as a high profile way to start this campaign. Although born in Gotham, Nygma hadn't stepped foot in the city for many years, having become famous as a private investigator, solving numerous thefts and high profile murders while consulting with the FBI on numerous cases. Those who had worked with Nygma considered him a genius, but insufferable, his intellect giving him an overwhelming ego. While brilliant, Nygma had no patience for anyone he deemed of a lower intelligence, only taking on cases which he felt could challenge him intellectually. Taking on Batman appeared to provide Nygma with such a case and he eagerly arrived in Gotham once contacted by Mayor Reeves.

Making a splash with his arrival, Nygma announced that he would capture Batman and expose his true identity to the world. It was a claim met with some scepticism by the people of Gotham, not least of all James Gordon, who saw Nygma's arrival as a distraction at best. Almost instantly, the two began butting heads as Nygma insisted on getting police resources to aid with his investigation, something that Gordon fought tooth and nail against it. Orders from Mayor Reeves were followed only once they were repeated and forced down to Gordon's office without any chance of misinterpretation or delay.

Smug and insufferable, Nygma made no friends in the GCPD as he tried to find any evidence of the Batman's identity. On a very generous stipend, Nygma went so far as to interview Harvey Dent in his cell in Arkham, a meeting that would gain some infamy as it was Nygma that allowed Dent to regain a coin to flip. Since his capture, Dent had been denied such an aid in decision making, instead being guided by doctors towards all his choices. Getting the coin, Dent was allowed an outlet for his split personality in exchange for giving Nygma information. This would prove to be a cataclysmic mistake as Dent was able to regain the extremes of his personality, something Nygma cared little about. As far as he was concerned, any information about the Batman was worth the price of a single coin.

From Dent, Nygma was to discover the means to contact Batman and how he had operated alongside Gordon. After a month of fighting against Gordon's refusal to help in anyway, Nygma now made his first move against Batman himself, taking to the airwaves of Gotham as he began his scheme. In a speech broadcast over the entire city, Nygma claimed that Batman was indeed the root of all the extreme crimes that Gotham had been plagued by over the last few years, stating that Batman had attracted the likes of Joker and Scarecrow.

Listing the rise in numerous extreme criminals, also citing Dent as one who had brought terror to the city, Nygma went on to say that by taking down Batman, Gotham would be better without him. Adding his own touch of ego, Nygma gave, what he believed, was an accurate run down of Batman's character, claiming that he funded himself from having stolen from Carmine Falcone and that he continued his crusade to boost his ego. Finishing his speech, Nygma promised to deduce the Batman's identity within weeks and that he would personally drag him in cuffs to court.

Although Reeves had made similar points earlier, his past had made him open to mockery for going against the Batman. Nygma on the other hand, despite his arrogance, was a respected figure and could make his point intelligently. The fallout of speech was that newspapers in the city actually ran editorials and showed letters questioning just how much truth Nygma's words had to them. Criticism of the Batman was soon being given by ordinary people, those who had dealt with the fear of an attack by the Joker and others of his kind. While the majority of the city continued to respect Batman, the seeds had been planted with questions about how much responsibility he bore for those who had plagued the city.

One man instantly rose to Batman's defence, Alexander Knox of the _Gotham Gazette_ started writing articles attacking Nygma's assertions. One of those who had stood with Batman and Gordon as they had fought the Falcone family, Knox had made his reputation as fighting for the truth and against the city's corruption whenever he saw it. He saw Nygma as tool of Mayor Reeves, attacking both publicly for creating distractions from the true problems facing Gotham.

As the war of words waged on, Nygma continued forward with his deductions. From his diaries, we can tell that he had focused in on the elite of Gotham as prime suspects, believing that they would be the only ones able to find the initial resources to become the Dark Knight. From talking with Dent, he felt justified in his belief that Batman was acting on ego and using the police to cover his own criminal activities. Finally, he eliminated suspects one by one until zeroing in on one he believed to be the most logical choice of the man behind the cowl.

Roman Sionis was from an old family of Gotham. His parents had strong business interests in the city with their wealth being among the highest in the city. With their deaths in 1938 due to a fire which swept through their mansion, Roman had taken control of the business however and proceeded to drive it into the ground. By July 1943, Roman Sionis was ready to declare bankruptcy and had become known for his violent outbursts against his staff, having to pay them off to prevent charges being brought against him.

A desperate man with well known ego problems, tendency towards violence and a lack of money fit Nygma's profile of Batman. He zeroed in on Roman Sionis, tracking him constantly as a means to catch him in the act. This was despite an incident in late June where Sionis, enraged as he was tracked by agents under Nygma, purposefully crashed into one of their cars after leaving work one evening. While the situation easily could have gotten out of hand, it was stopped by an appearance of the Batman arriving in his armoured car. Considering Nygma's pursuit of Batman, it isn't surprising the Dark Knight himself kept an eye on the investigation in some capacity, especially when it focused on an unstable person like Sionis.

Evidently not wanting things to get out of hand, the Batman had been following the investigation and interrupted Sionis before he could attack the drivers of the other car. This just turned Sionis' rage onto the Dark Knight, who swiftly dispatched his attacker with a single blow before the police started to arrive. One of the first to arrive was Nygma, who missed Batman by scant minutes and took the entire incident as a deflection by Sionis, never taking into account that he might be wrong.

Such was Nygma's belief in how right he was, that he waited until Sionis had regained consciousness, berating him in front of a crowd that such tactics couldn't possibly fool him. Claiming that he was getting more and more proof all the time, Nygma then went onto promise Sionis that he would soon send the man to jail, to spend the rest of his life, however short that might be, with those he'd put behind bars. What protests Sionis made were ignored with Nygma simply asserting that his was the greater intellect and he'd prove it once he'd brought Sionis in.

This incident was more than enough to finally break Sionis completely. Believing that he had nothing to lose and was going to prison anyway, Sionis aimed to get revenge on those he'd felt had wronged him. Focusing on the workers at his factory, who he believed were responsible for his failing business, Sionis took a gun into work, opening fire on everyone as they arrived and then taking ten people hostage. Having taken Nygma's comments about not being able to hide behind a mask to heart, Sionis actually donned a black, skull shaped mask, calling it his 'real face'.

When the police arrived, Sionis demanded that Nygma be brought towards him, stating that if he was going to be ruined, it would be for a good reason. With the police surrounding the factory, it was a tense stand off as Nygma arrived, apparently to take control but with Sionis having completely broken down, it was unclear if being talked down was possible, or if he just wanted revenge. The question would never be answered as the Batman interfered just as Nygma arrived. Having infiltrated the building, the Dark Knight had made his way to the room with the hostages and swiftly took Sionis down, the witnesses stating that he had disarmed Sionis with a single projectile before then knocking him unconscious. Much to the annoyance of the hostage who had grabbed the projectile, the police took it for evidence.

With Sionis having snapped and Batman having saved the day, Nygma arrived on the scene to realise that his theory had fallen to pieces publicly and that his credibility was all but destroyed. He was even blamed for Sionis' breakdown as well, pushing an already unstable man past the point of no return. His theory in ruins and his reputation having been badly blemished, Nygma retreated from the public eye, seething, blaming his failures on others and eager for revenge.

After Nygma crashed and burned so spectacularly in public, Mayor Reeves began to grow ever more desperate. With just over a year until the election and his popularity even lower due to his association with Nygma, Reeves began to fear that whoever his successor was would open the books during Reeves' time in office and give the police grounds to arrest him. With his paranoia at an all time high, Reeves felt he had no choice but to resort to desperate measures. Due to his connections with the mob, Reeves had an understanding of contract killers, those who would kill a target if the price was right. In his desperation, Reeves contacted the best he could find, a man named David Cain.

Due to his very profession, not much is known about Cain's background. He was born in the late 19th century and joined the army, becoming a decorated veteran in World War One. After that, things become confused as Cain simply dropped off the radar after that, becoming a soldier for hire before eventually turning to assassination. There are stories of his actions in the Chaco War and the Spanish Civil War and south-east Asia throughout the 1930's, but these are hard to verify. All that can be certain is that Cain's reputation as a killer among the criminal world was enough for Reeves to contact him for a contract to kill James Gordon.

Reeves believed that all his woes would end if he could take down Gordon, who he saw as the cause of his fears. He offered a contract of a million dollars for Gordon's death, sending word via his few remaining criminal contacts to Cain who was seen in the city in late August. No one can say for certain when exactly Cain arrived, but he had not gone unnoticed. Evidently, the Batman had either been keeping an eye on Reeves or had become aware of Cain's presence through other means as police were alerted to a gunfight in an apartment in Gotham's Upper East Side on the 25th August.

Witnesses soon gathered to see the Batman fighting through an apartment building with David Cain, the latter having enough ordinance on him to keep even the Dark Knight at bay. The amount of witnesses to the battle, a crowd having foolishly gathered, although certainly adding to Batman's legend, proved to be detrimental to actually helping him as Cain used the people as a distraction. He sent a hail of bullets into the watching crowd, fleeing as Batman stopped to aid those who had been hit. Before this, the Batman had been seen as a fighter, an obsessed crusader and a potential menace. Now, a more compassionate side was shown as Batman stopped his pursuit to help those who had been injured during the fight. Rather than the relentless hunter he was seen to be, a trace of humanity was also shown through this act.

As soon as the police and ambulances arrived to the scene though, the Batman made certain that the victims got their care before he went off in pursuit. By that time though, Cain had vanished, making it impossible to track down. The Batman soon vanished along with Cain, leaving only questions and the injured behind. Mayor Reeves instantly latched onto this incident as proof that the Batman was a threat to the city of Gotham, something which reignited the earlier debate. Batman's actions, going in without backup, taking on a foe like Cain, who the police had managed to identify through descriptions, and the fallout from the injuries taken by the crowd led to a rise in criticism. 

It was around this time that the debate around vigilantism had really started to spread throughout the country. Outside of Gotham, the Batman was seen in various ways. Whether it be a madman, a hero or even just a myth the police used to cover brutal tactics against criminals, opinions ranged widely with praise and condemnation being raised in equal measures. Delaware Governor Walter W. Bacon even had a private conversation with Franklin Roosevelt over the role of the Batman where Bacon denied any knowledge of the Batman's operations. A Senate Committee was set up to begin an investigation into the role of vigilantism, further exploring its rise over the coming years as the example of Batman was followed by others. While we shall look into this at a later point, it should be noted that others had taken on the garb of a vigilante throughout the war, with it having major ramifications elsewhere in the future.

In the aftermath of the Cain attack, Gordon appeared to be dragging his feet over the issue of Batman. While the Commissioner had continually condemned Batman and any further attempts at vigilantism that the citizens of Gotham might attempt, there had been no major effort in the GCPD to bring the Batman in. Now though, public pressure forced Gordon to act and he created a task force to deal with the issue of the Batman himself. While politically necessary, the task force only paid lip service to its assigned role and it was mostly used to investigate crimes that the Batman had stopped.

As August passed, the manhunt for David Cain continued even as Mayor Reeves tried to ramp up fears of Batman. Reeves' words were rendered rather hollow when Cain struck though, attempting to kill Gordon on the 8th September during a speech at the Peregrinator's Club where he was speaking to the local politicians of the city. As Gordon was trying to emphasise the need for further police resources to help capitalise on the destruction of the Carmine family, he was shot by by Cain using a sniper rifle. 

From Gordon's diaries we can see he had been well prepared for this, although he never says why. It doesn't take much to assume that Gordon had been warned by the Batman as to Cain's intentions and had acted accordingly. As a result, Gordon's life was certainly saved by the bulletproof vest he had been wearing underneath his clothing at the time. Although rather rudimentary compared to what would come later for the armour and its designs, it proved enough to save Gordon's life although he had to spend some time recovering from the injury.

As some rushed to Gordon, police officers stationed around the building were already tracking the shooter. Managing to trace the fire, they were greeted by the sight of Cain actually struggling with someone over his gun on the roof of a nearby building. To the surprise of the witnesses, it wasn't the Batman, but rather, a young woman who was struggling with Cain. As police made their way to the rooftop where the shot had been fired from, both figures disappeared from view, leaving only questions and panic behind.

With both Cain and his assailant gone, the question of who she was went unanswered and continues to remain so to this day. Although later events were able to make us aware that the woman had a connection with the Batman, her actual identity has never been discovered. All that can be said for certain is that she almost certainly helped save Jim Gordon's life that day, preventing Cain from taking another shot.

With the city waiting with bated breath over the health of Gordon and whether the assassin about be caught before striking again, other events came crashing around the city at the same time. The first was that Nygma decided to reclaim some of his credibility after his disastrous attempt at revealing Batman's identity. With the chaos that came from the Year of Hell and the rise in the debate about Batman, a series of burglaries in Gotham's elite apartments and mansions had gone without much notice. The elite of Gotham had found precious jewels being taken from their homes at the dead of night with no clues to be found. The police were too stretched to concentrate on the matter and the Batman himself was dealing with other issues.

As a result, Nygma took up the cause of Gotham's elites, throwing himself into the role as he looked for clues during the summer. The day after the attempt on Gordon's life, he used private security hired by those he was representing to make a citizen's arrest on Selina Kyle, naming her as the culprit. Having looked into each of the cases, Nygma had found similarities to burglary in the spring of 1940, where a single break in had seen some precious jewels stolen from the home of Robert Kyle. At the time, the crime had been blamed on the Batman by an uncaring police force.

With the time and freedom to do so though, Nygma dug into the case, finding reports that Selina had accused her husband of abusing her prior to their divorce in early 1939. Furthering his investigation, Nygma traced Selina's financial records over the years since her divorce and found she had been living well beyond the means that her salary as a worker for a local pet shelter. With his men at his heel, Nygma confronted and then enacted a citizen's arrest on Selina Kyle, causing a search of her apartment that did indeed reveal several of the stolen items.

Rather than shy away from the accusations, Kyle revelled in them, proving to be quite adept at crowd manipulation, listing the luxuries her victims lived in while contrasting it with those who shared her own rather modest apartment building. For a city that had to endure years of violence and bloodletting, a beautiful woman with a taste for tweaking the noses of the rich and powerful came as something of a relief. When it was revealed that Selina had also been donating some of her stolen money to the pet shelter she worked out, her persona took on the role of a Robin Hood-esque figure and sympathy shot up, the judge at her case even allowing her to walk on bail, all a mere week after the attempt on Gordon's life.

Nygma also regained some credibility, cracking a case that the police and the Batman had failed to do so while also gaining the lucrative gratitude of Gotham's upper class. When it came to Mayor Reeves though, Nygma found himself shunned, the Mayor believing that Nygma had failed to catch Batman and was now chasing lowly thieves rather than focus on the main issue. Cain had also gone underground, the failed attempt on Gordon's life forcing him to cut off contact from the Mayor. While a professional and smart move, Reeves just saw it as Cain abandoning him. It was at this point that Reeves, feeling desperate, made his deal with the Devil.

The Joker had been kept in Blackgate Prison since his arrest earlier in the year. Bringing him to trial had been extremely slow due to fears that he would enact a similar scheme to his last one. Added to that was the fear of what he would do to those who would serve on a jury at his trial. An insanity plea had been rejected outright as many believed that the Joker knew the difference between right and wrong, he just didn't care. Private correspondence between the various legal professionals working on the case also reveal that many of them felt Joker was too much of a threat to be placed into an asylum like Arkham and were eager to give him the death penalty.

With his belief that enemies were coming in on all sides and that his few allies were deserting him, Reeves drove to Blackgate prison in the morning of 18th September. Officially, he was there to see how security was handling the Joker, as well as have a conversation to 'gauge the mind of a madman'. In reality, Reeves used his five minutes of privacy with the Joker to slip him copies of the keys to his handcuffs and the doors of the prison. For his freedom, Joker had to agree to kill Gordon and the Batman, to finally free Reeves from their threat.

Naturally, the Joker agreed to this, waiting until Reeves had left the prison before killing the guard who'd come to watch over his assigned meal time and then all but strolling right through the prison doors. Managing to avoid the remaining guards due to a shift change, the Joker made good his escape from Blackgate, but not before stopping on the outside and throwing the keys to the cell of Jonathan Crane. As Crane would later tell, the Joker had no idea whose cell he was throwing the keys to, he just wanted to help create more escapees to help cover his own break out. It was a dark twist of fate that it would be Crane that would get the chance to escape then, having quickly created his own plan mirroring the Joker's.

Crane unlocked his own cell before quickly passing the keys onto other inmates, leading to an entire cell block erupting into a riot that Crane took advantage of, slipping away amidst the chaos. It took two days for the prison riot to be brought to an end, twenty inmates having escaped during that period and many fearing what was about to happen next. The cause behind the break out wasn't discovered until sometime later, suspicion actually resting on potential corruption within the prison itself initially. Mayor Reeves himself was above suspicion simply due to how no one would believe that anyone so high up could help facilitate such an escape.

Needless to say, Gotham was plunged once more into a panic over the thought of the Joker being loose once more. Crane escaping also added a fresh layer of dread over to what he would do if he could get his hands onto the needed chemicals for his gas. With the focus of the police now on a city-wide manhunt, Nygma found his accomplishment forgotten, discarded with yesterday's newspaper as he believed everyone was ignoring his genius for a bunch of circus freaks. Actually contacting the Gotham Gazette over this, Nygma had to endure the humiliation of being laughed out of the building for his presumption.

The final insult to injury came from Selina Kyle actually making a plea bargain with the DA's office to get a suspended sentence in return for giving the location of her remaining stolen jewels. A comment by Kyle about how she was only sorry she hadn't been caught by a real man like Batman only pushed the private detective over the edge. Everywhere Nygma turned, it appeared that his achievements were being ignored, his intelligence belittled and his skills mocked. Having never experienced this kind of treatment before, Nygma became determined to avenge these insults and force people to acknowledge his superiority.

As Nygma made his own plans, the Joker would make his first appearance on the 5th October at Arkham Asylum, his only trip to the institution, despite various attempts by his legal team. He broke into Arkham at midnight and made his way to where Harvey Dent was being kept, giving him the choice to go free. Using the coin given to him by Nygma, Dent made the flip and walked out of Arkham along with the Joker. A second coin flip happened after Dent asked why the Joker had helped free him. Being told “Because it was Twos-Day.” Had almost led to Dent killing Joker on the spot, only for the coin to deny him the satisfaction. 

The break out from Arkham, as well as the death of three orderlies, pushed the panic in the city even higher. The only positive, it seemed at the time, was that Arkham was put under new, stricter management as Reeves put a controversial doctor by the name of Hugo Strange in charge. A man who had a long history is the field of mental health, Strange nevertheless held questionable views on how to diagnose and treat people. But he was one of the few people willing to take on the job in the aftermath of Crane's crimes being uncovered and the break out by the Joker. At the time, anyone willing to show a strong hand was welcomed and Strange quickly made himself comfortable in his new role.

After the break out in Arkham, the Joker simply wasn't content with that and seemed to feel as if he was on a roll. He decided to strike at the First Bank of Gotham, having lost all his assets in his last arrest and in desperate need of more. With a gang of young and desperate men from Gotham's poorer streets, the Joker made his appearance by ramming a truck into the bank and taking the people there hostage as his men broke into the vaults. Alerted to the situation, the police soon surrounded the bank but the Joker made no move. Rather than attempt a break out, or even make demands, he was content to sit and wait, the reason becoming all too apparent.

The hostages in the bank later reported that the Joker was restless and irritable throughout the robbery until too much time had passed since he had heard from those working on the vault. Instantly, it appeared as if the madman's mood had changed as he grabbed onto the nearest hostage and shoved them onto the truck, using the business end of his gun to get his remaining henchmen to start driving without even taking any money. Whatever instinct had been driving the Joker proved accurate as the Batman burst from the doors leading to the vault, just making the leap onto the truck in time before it pulled away.

The only witness accounts comes from the unfortunate hostage who the Joker had dragged along with him, a man called Charlie Collins. Having been forced onto the truck at gun point, Collins now had to deal with the Batman and Joker facing off against each other while the truck sped through the streets of Gotham. Hampered by the enclosed space and the fact that the Joker had a hostage nearby, the Batman was slow to make a move until he managed to throw a projectile at the Joker, sending the gun from his hand.

After that, according to Collins, was a confused fist fight that swung back and forth as the driver of the truck constantly swerved to avoid police and other cars on the road. While Batman certainly had the skill, he had to worry over the safety of Collins and that cost him as the Joker had little care for his Collins', or even his own safety. Despite that though, and several blows from the Joker, the Batman managed to send the mad man careening back with a well aimed blow to the head. As the Joker stumbled backwards, he managed to fall by his gun but his attempt at a shot went awry as the Batman threw another of his projectiles at him. With the shot going up, it ricocheted into the driver's cabin and killed the driver, sending him swerving off the bridge were on into the river below. By an odd quirk of fate, it was the same Sprang Bridge that the Joker had fallen from during his first encounter with the Batman.

Dragging Collins from the water and making sure he was alright, the Batman then vanished as the police arrived. There was no half-heartedness about the search this time, the police scoured the river for the Joker, but found nothing. Commissioner Gordon refused to take the madman's death for granted and kept a general APB for him, refusing to believe that he was dead until a body was found. There were some who had believed Gordon to be over-reacting, but the Joker's presence had already created a sense of dread in the city and the vast majority agreed with his actions. Nothing was discovered though, only the corpses of the Joker's henchmen who had been sitting in the front of the truck were discovered.

Two days after the Joker's disappearance, Commissioner Gordon was to suffer another attempt on his life as David Cain attempted to finish the contract. Having arrived home after a long day shift, Gordon was attacked by Cain, who preferred a stealthy approach as he tried to garrotte the Commissioner as soon as he left his car. Fortunately for Gordon, his daughter Barbara displayed quick awareness as she tried to save her father, quickly getting him to safety as the Batman arrived and fought Cain.

James Gordon and his family lived in a neighbourhood of Old Gotham and the fight soon attracted a large crowd as Batman and Cain struggled with each other. To those who saw the fight, they noted how even it was, the Dark Knight's own hand to hand skills countered by Cain's abilities and the fact he was unconcerned about collateral damage. Willing to use the various weapons that he had carried with him, Cain left the stealthy approach far behind as he started shooting at Batman, who tried to keep himself away from people in case they were caught in the crossfire.

For once, the Dark Knight's skills failed him however and one bullet managed to catch him in the shoulder as he tried to keep Cain's aim away from houses. Sent to the ground, it appeared as if the Batman would meet his end as Cain pointed his gun to finish the job. He was stopped by the timely intervention of Gordon, having recovered from the earlier attack and eager to help his ally. The two struggled until Barbara Gordon stepped in once more, using a tyre iron from her father's car to strike Cain's shoulder, almost breaking his scapula. That was all that Gordon needed to take Cain down to the ground, finishing him off with several well aimed blows before taking the gun away and placing the assassin under custody.

Placing cuffs on Cain and with the police quickly arriving, the danger was over. But, before the Batman could his usual stealthy exit, the witnesses to the fight started to give the Dark Knight and the Gordons cheers and applause for their actions. It was perhaps the only time the Dark Knight received a show of support from the public on such a scale. He showed little outward signs of enjoying it however and indeed vanished, clutching his shoulder as he went off into the night.

With Cain being arrested, it was the sign of a lull in Gotham that actually lasted into the New Year. The Joker had remained underground with hopes of his death increasing daily, Crane had seemingly vanished with rumours that he had fled to the west to get out of Gotham. In reality, he had already contacted the Mayor's office to start a new plan, Reeves' desperation so high at this point he was willing to fund Crane's experiments and let him gather the chemicals needed for more of his fear gas. Given a safe haven by the Mayor, Crane worked away while many wondered where he had gone. Dent himself had also apparently gone from Gotham as well, having not been seen since his escape from Arkham. 

Dent had found himself an unlikely ally since his escape. Smarting from his humiliations, Nygma had been busy tracking down Dent. Not to capture him, but to recruit him in his quest for revenge. Giving Dent a safehouse to stay, Nygma started to work on a plan to bring about Batman's downfall. After his breakout from Arkahm, Dent had been at a loss, prone to using the coin for every major decision and had almost returned to custody on numerous occasions. Only the flip of the coin had prevented him from doing so and Nygma soon turned his attentions on using Dent's need for a purpose to his advantage.

With those responsible for his disfigurement dead, Dent had no focus to turn to as his previous life was in ruins. Nygma, instead of offering help, made Dent focus on his allies instead, shifting the blame onto Batman, who had brought about the desperation in the Falcone family, and Gordon, who had failed to protect him. Already unhinged and his more aggressive personality willing to be pointed towards anything, Dent found himself slowly being swayed by Nygma's words until he was ready to make the flip. The marked side came up, and Batman and Gordon became Dent's newest targets.

There was a problem for both Nygma and Dent though, was where was Batman? Since his battle with Cain, the Dark Knight hadn't been spotted in a manner that could be verified. Rumours abounded of course, battles in the night, a hunt for Crane and Dent that went across the city, but nothing that was confirmed. It was much more likely that he was recovering from his wound at the hands of Cain and the reports which followed were people's imagination getting the best of them. 

It wasn't even until the 26th March that the Batman was once again confirmed sighted in Gotham, in response to a riot in Arkham. A patient named Aaron Helzinger had attacked the orderlies with the violence soon spreading. The led to a rapid response from police as the thought of the Joker resurfacing was close to many people's minds. The Batman was seen entering the Asylum and quickly helped subdue the riot. Despite several injuries, it was a relatively painless affair with the inmates getting the wind taken from them after clashing with Batman and the police ending the riot in a quick fashion.

The true facts behind how quickly the riot spread weren't known at the time, although the police did start an investigation that turned up little in the way of evidence. Hugo Strange's experiments would not be uncovered for well over a year as he had proved himself able to hide his crimes as well as his predecessor. As the investigation turned up with nothing, the event was blamed on the high tensions in the asylum due to a stricter regime.

As March gave way to April, Nygma had decided to make his move along with Dent. While planning to use the former ally to Gordon and Batman as a mere tool to reclaim his glory, Nygma was happy to stand back and let chaos ensue, for a little while anyway. With money and a willingness to take the fight to the forces of order in the city, Dent struck at the Gotham Municipal Courthouse on the 26th April, the same that had seen his disfigurement at the hands of Maroni. He and a hired gang assaulted the courthouse, killing six lawyers and setting a fire in the actual courtroom. 

The attack caught many off guard and the question of why Dent attacked there hung in the air. Due to the lack of widespread knowledge of mental health in the time period, many could only guess as to Dent's motivations before he furthered it up with an attack on a police car two days later. One officer died and another was severely wounded, being left alive so that he could pass on a message to Gordon that Dent was ready to take revenge against the Commissioner and the Bat. With this news spreading, Gordon was once more placed under heavy protection and the search for Dent was ramped up considerably.

All this turned out to be for nought however as Dent himself stepped out of hiding. Denied a chance to attack Gordon and Batman not being seen, action was called for and it came in the form of a Wayne Foundation fundraiser at the Gotham Civic Centre on the 5th May. With many of Gotham's elite present, Dent and his gang burst into the ballroom where Bruce Wayne was giving a speech thanking those who had donated. Taking the entire room hostage, Dent then demanded that the Batman show himself by midnight, or he would kill everyone present, starting with Wayne himself.

For several tense hours, Dent's gang and the police waited for the Batman to show up with the police waiting for the order to make a move against Dent if they needed to. The tension mounted as midnight got ever closer, the bells just starting to toll when a figure appeared in the ballroom, taking out two members of the gang before facing Dent himself. Despite the hopes of the former prosecutor though, it wasn't the Dark Knight who faced him. Although clad in similar garb, there were differences. The cowl covered the entire face and the outfit itself was pitch black, obscuring the person underneath entirely.

Although controversy still comes up when discussing the person underneath the dark mask, there can be no doubt that on the twelfth toll of the bells, the figure known as the Black Bat had appeared.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Another chapter here as we reach closer to the climax of Batman's career.


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter Seven: Year Six (1944-1945)   
_“As the old saying goes, no man is an island. Oh, you can try to keep to yourself, maybe even succeed for a while. But you will need someone to be there to watch your back, to keep you safe and, most importantly, to keep you sane.”_

_Author John Steed, writing in 'The Town of no Return', part of his famous 'Avengers' series, 1988_

When stepping out in front of Dent and his gang, the Black Bat added herself to the legend of the Batman in the most dramatic way. Although never as celebrated as the Dark Knight himself, the Black Bat still defended the city and made her name alongside her partner. It was a shock to many to actually see that it was a woman who had taken on a similar mantle to Batman. Although Gotham was surprisingly forward-thinking in terms of opportunities for race and gender for the time period, the role of a female as a vigilante struck many as unbelievable, even sordid, at first.

Despite any controversy that the Black Bat's gender may have caused, she proved herself worthy to bare the mantle of the Bat as she took on Dent and his remaining thugs. A thrown projectile saw Dent disarmed before being taken out with several blows directly to the torso and head. What fight remained in his gang left them after seeing their leader taken down so swiftly and the remainder surrendered, believing that Batman himself was not far behind. Before five past twelve, the hostages had been freed and the Black Bat had vanished.

Having made such an impact, the Black Bat would fade into the darkness afterwards, very rarely seen and even more elusive than the Batman. Her role over the next two years would be surrounded with even more mystery than many other things to do with the Dark Knight. Even when the Batman would have speculation over to his identity, to be addressed in a later chapter, the Black Bat had no such suspects that Batman had. Her identity will be a mystery that, barring any new evidence, shall remained unsolved.

It was a mystery that many sought an answer to right away with the press on the ground being the first to ask it. Speculation in the papers grew on a daily basis. Was she Batman's ally? His partner? Or even lover? The accusations and questions grew daily in the immediate aftermath of the Black Bat's first appearance, but the only thing that everyone could agree on was the name given to her be Alexander Knox. He had originally wanted 'Bat-Woman', but his editor, sceptical that a woman could do such acts, insisted on a more masculine name, the moniker chosen being a compromise.

The arrival of Black Bat didn't mean that things got smoother for Gotham. After all, although Dent had been brought in, the Joker and Crane were still at at large and Cobblepot had used the distractions of the last year to firmly cement his wealth and influence in Gotham. Nygma was also ready to strike, having convinced Dent to lay the blame for all his misfortunes on Batman, something that the latter happily did as he ranted to his hostages.

Actually arriving during the final stages of the hostage crisis, Nygma let his thoughts known as he demanded to talk to Dent, hoping to be seen to try and reason with him. The ploy worked as Dent had held several of Gotham's elite hostage and some of them were already sympathetic to Nygma due to earlier services rendered. While the vast majority of Gotham held Nygma and his views in contempt, the police consultant now had the resources and backing to continue his hunt for the Batman. Before he could continue his hunt though, he received an unexpected form of help in the shape of Jonathan Crane's return.

Having been hiding in a safehouse provided by Mayor Reeves since his escape, Crane had been working on creating another batch of his fear gas to unleash onto the populace, eager to gain revenge on Batman and the city as a whole. The increasingly erratic and paranoid Mayor Reeves had given Crane all the resources he could want as he believed it was the only way left to take down Batman with the Joker vanished and Nygma seemingly distracted with other pursuits. Reeves' behaviour was starting to be noticed however as he feared an arrest for his crimes at any moment and used any excuse he could to avoid meeting with Commissioner Gordon.

When being told by Nygma that the consultant had a plan to take down the Batman then, Reeves eagerly welcomed him back into the fold, even telling Nygma about his plans with Crane. Astonished at such a revelation (Not so much at the actions themselves, but more that Reeves had been stupid enough to admit to them), Nygma decided to use it to his advantage, but not right away. Instead, he sat on the information until Crane actually struck to increase his own standing.

He didn't have to wait long. In his own sick mind, Crane was a scientist and felt the need to test his latest batch of fear gas before the true attack could take place. Looking to strike back at those he felt had oppressed him, Crane sought to attack the GCPD with a gas bomb on a police station in Gotham's Coventry on the 20th June. The bomb that went through the station killed four people initially, while the gas itself seeped out, causing panic and hysteria in the building to increase the body count by fifteen. Officers, believing themselves to be amidst their worst fears, opened fire and otherwise panicked as the gas had its effect. It took the effort of numerous police units to bring down the riot and dozens had been injured by it.

It was at this point that Nygma made his appearance to the public in general, using several hired goons as he made his way to the safehouse Crane had been hiding. Using his goons to storm the apartment in Old Gotham, Nygma was happy to sit back as Crane had prepared for the Batman to arrive and had placed traps in his safehouse. Out of the twenty men that Nygma brought with him, eight died and three more were maimed before they eventually managed to break through to Crane himself.

Having secured their prize, Nygma and his men called the police and ambulances in order to bring Crane in as well as tend to their wounded. These were, of course, soon followed by the press which Nygma used to his advantage. Claiming to have followed Crane's trail to this isolated apartment (Although not saying how), Nygma basked in the glow of the almost unanimous praise he received from the press for bringing Crane back into custody. A few voices spoke out against the consultant, most vocally James Gordon and Alexander Knox, both of whom saw Nygma as a glory seeker who risked too many lives rather than call in the proper authorities.

Nygma ploughed through such objections though, having the gratitude of Gotham's elite and had been redeemed in the eyes of others for bringing Crane in. The obvious exception was Mayor Reeves who now believed that everyone was conspiring against him as Nygma started to turn the screws on the Mayor, looking to blackmail him over the affair. Crane, surprisingly enough, remained quiet about Reeves' involvement in his hiding, having stored the majority of his fear gas in other properties of Reeves and not wanting to risk all his hard work being undone if he had the chance to escape once more.

Crane's hopes were to be dashed as an anonymous source dropped off deeds that proved Reeves' ownership of the property. When given this evidence, the police acted quickly on it, even though no one knew where the evidence had come from, the deeds and other files having been left on James Gordon's desk. While Batman was a suspect, it came out years later that Selina Kyle had been the one to send the evidence to the police, admitting to it after the statue of limitations on breaking and entering had fallen to the wayside. As to why she did it, Selina simply responded that she had heard rumours about Reeves and had done some digging herself. As to who she had heard the rumours from, she never stated.

On the 27th June, James Gordon, flanked by several officers, walked into Mayor Reeves' offices and arrested him on a list of offences. Reeves, having been on the brink for some time now, collapsed completely as he suffered a mental breakdown as he was taken in by police. Left a gibbering wreck, Reeves was sent to Arkham Asylum as he was obviously unfit to stand trial. Deputy Mayor Sebastian Hardy rose to the office of Mayor, but his own background was full of shady dealings and the scandal that had destroyed Reeves reflected on Hardy as well as people took a closer look at City Hall. With the election in November, it was obvious that it was going to be a cleansing that Gotham hadn't seen since the American Revolution.

As the back room deals started for the numerous candidates wanting to be Mayor vied for support, Nygma placed his own plans into action. He had not forgotten his earlier humiliation, believing that Batman had somehow 'cheated' in order to put Nygma off the trail of finding who was under the cowl. Believing that no one could be altruistic enough to become Batman without getting something in return, Nygma was willing to go to extremes in order to prove it. His machinations of the previous months had given him the backing and resources of Gotham's elite, which he put to good use. As if to further one up Batman, Nygma even hired an assistant to help him, taking on a young woman as his own Black Bat. 

Jenna Duffy was a young, attractive woman that had been born and raised in Gotham. Under a flurry of publicity, Nygma announced her to the public, claiming that he had been in the market for a protégé and the Gotham born Duffy matched his own standards. In truth, it was just another way for Nygma to upstage Batman and he had no interest in Duffy as an intellectual equal. Instead, he was much more interested in her skills as a mechanic and carpenter, largely self taught in her father's workshop, along with a moral code that was easily swayed by large amounts of money.

As Nygma set Duffy to work on a secret project of his, the city had to contend with attention being brought onto black marketing as the war went on. With the limited supply of goods due to the demands of fighting the Axis powers, Oswald Cobblepot had made his move to corner the market in items that had were in high demand. Like prohibition did for the Falcone family, the war offered opportunities for criminals to expand their wealth by helping supply what people wanted.

As Cobblepot discovered though, he had little hope of ever returning to the glory days of the Falcone empire. Gotham had changed a great deal since the first appearance of the Batman and crime simply didn't pay as it had done. Many young men had either signed up for the war effort or had otherwise been enlisted. Corruption as a whole had diminished greatly as the Falcone family had been bankrupted with their efforts of fighting the police and Batman, with James Gordon having cleared out the GCPD of many of its worst elements. Along with the job programs put in place by the Wayne Foundation, working with Roosevelt's New Deal, many lower income families had opportunities that didn't include organised crime and took them.

Cobblepot's attempt to recreate the influence Carmine Falcone were doomed to failure then. What success he had in expanding his influence was greatly limited by the low levels of corruption and reinvigorated city that he now faced. When a raid took place on a van that was carrying ration booklets to Gotham, it was stopped short by the Black Bat taking down the gang before they could do too much damage. 

Similar attempts by Cobblepot's gang were put down fast and hard by either the police or the Batman and Black Bat. The summer passed in relative peace as Cobblepot's operations were curbed until he simply decided to walk away in early August. What once would have been a lucrative source of revenue for organised crime instead turned out to be a dead end. Gotham had changed and was continuing to change for the better, even if it had to go through the chaos of the period.

As Cobblepot retreated to the few businesses he had managed to consolidate in the aftermath of killing Rupert Thorne, a special police unit was set up to tackle his crime syndicate in particular. As the last major bastion of organised crime in the city, Cobblepot's organisation became a major focus for the GCPD as the summer of 1944 remained relatively quiet. The largest event was the sentencing of David Cain for his attempt to murder James Gordon, along with numerous other offences.

Ever a professional, Cain had remained quiet about who had hired him. In fact, he hadn't given a word of testimony throughout his trial and had gone through it all stoically. As he was handed a life sentence, he barely even reacted and allowed himself to be led away. It was perhaps this submissive attitude which made people believe that he wasn't a threat, something that they came to regret later on.

Despite the war raging an ocean away, a calm had settled over Gotham City as the extreme crime which had plagued it seemed to have gone. Those who had caused chaos and panic before were either vanished or all locked away and crime was at its lowest in the city's history. With the office of Mayor now open to someone who wasn't in the pocket of the mob, Gotham looked ready to turn over a new leaf and head into a brighter future.

But, the time for the city to reach its heights had not yet arrived as people discovered when the Joker resurfaced in September. Having been in hiding for so long, even Gordon had come to believe that the Joker may have actually been dead and that the worst of the extreme crime had come to an end. This came crashing down on the 17th September as a corpse was found in Mayor Hardy's office, a note attached to it from the Joker promising that whoever stood to campaign against the 'real Mayor' would suffer a similar fate. The body belonged to an aide of the Mayor, named Armand Krol, further striking at the institution as well as the fears of the populace.

The return of the Joker made the GCPD go on high alert as security tightened around Mayor Hardy and his upcoming challenger, Hamilton Hill. An attorney who had worked in numerous law firms in a long career, Hill had stepped up to be a candidate for Mayor, his honesty and experience with the various causes affecting the elite and common Gothamite both giving him a good chance. Campaigning on bringing honesty into City Hall and a continuation and expansion of the anti-poverty measures, Hill was all but certain to become the new Mayor after the November elections.

The death of Krol, signifying that the Joker had taken an interest in the election had thrown this all off balance however. Now, many were wondering if they'd even be safe by casting their vote and what plans that madman had in store for the city. They would get their answer as the Joker struck again, this time attacking a warehouse which was storing ballots for the upcoming election. After letting his gas seep through into the building, killing most inside, the Joker then left a box of his own ballots that only had his own name on them. Along the twelve corpses he left behind, the Joker had let everyone know of his true aims. In his own demented mind, he saw himself as the leader of a city that was fit to be turned into a chaotic wasteland. 

Joker's claim to be the next Mayor made the panic over the election even worse. Those he had killed to simply drop off a box of ballot papers promised to grow as the election drew near, the threat of killing anyone who stood in his way loomed over the city once more. Commissioner Gordon once again had to focus the police on bringing in the Joker before even more damage could be done as special protection was placed around Hill and Mayor Hardy as the polling date loomed. The search for the Joker himself resumed rapidly, the city being turned upside down as the manhunt continued.

As this went on, it turned out Mayor Hardy shared some characteristics with his predecessor, namely, his paranoia. Believing that the police were using the Joker as an excuse to investigate previous corruption issues with him, Hardy refused as much protection as he reasonably could. He believed that Hill would be the next Mayor anyway, so the Joker would most likely go for him as a target. In this, Hardy vastly underestimated the Joker's ruthlessness and willingness to do anything to further his aims.

It was a grim three weeks as the Joker continued his attacks on buildings listed as polling stations for the next election, mostly settling for vandalism and fleeing before the police or Batman could arrive. Investigations into these attacks produced no pattern that could be discerned until it was the Batman himself who spotted it. After another attack on the 13th October, the police were called into an attack on a polling station in Coventry where the Joker once more managed to escape. As this happened however, the police were called to another polling station in Old Gotham where the Batman and Black Bat had been spotted in a fight with a group of men.

Arriving on the scene, the police found three men battered and tied up along with the truth behind the Joker's plan. The attacks on buildings listed as polling stations had been a feint. While attacking some to draw in police attention, he had used hired men to infiltrate other polling stations while the attention was elsewhere. There, bombs had been planted in them which had been rigged with a trigger that could be set off at any time. It became apparent that the Joker's plan was to place as many explosives as he could in polling stations and set them off on election day. Even with a decreased turn out, the number of casualties could potentially have been in the hundreds.

The GCPD instantly went over every building set out for polling in a search for more explosives, discovering the true extent of the Joker's scheme. Each explosive device was destroyed safely and the scheme ruined, infuriating the Joker. With his attempt to cow the city of Gotham into submission and panic over the election failed, he decided to go for a more direct route. On a debate scheduled for 21st October between the two candidates, the Joker struck with the remains of his gang.

In a high school auditorium in the neighbourhood of Coventry, Hamilton Hill was making a reply to a question about his plans to protect the city in case of a plague outbreak similar to the Spanish Flu after the First World War when the Joker attacked. For once though, the Joker had proven himself to be predictable as the police protection had been ramped up over Hardy's objections. Not only that, but both the Batman and the Black Bat had been in the area, waiting for such an attack. 

The Joker had hoped to use a van to crash through the doors of the auditorium, but instead crashed a barrier that had been erected by the police earlier. Having come at the police at such a speed, the Joker and the few men he had with him were already banged up as they left the van, only for the Dark Knights to descend upon him. Despite pulling out guns, the Joker's men were easily despatched by the Black Bat while Batman himself faced the Joker.

His plans frustrated and faced with failure as the police were quickly surrounding him, the Joker gave way to a full fledged rant. He attacked the Batman, saying that he was a coward who couldn't put on a policeman's badge and that, while he tried to put on the facade of a monster with his costume, the cowl still showed a part of his face, reminding everyone of the man underneath. Demanding to know why he did that, the Joker was driven to a fury by Batman's simple three word response.

“To mock you.”

The Joker tried to kill the Batman on the spot, lunging in with a knife, but was disarmed by the Dark Knight as the police quickly moved to take him into custody. Their job done, the Batman and Black Bat faded into the night without anyone in the auditorium having realised what had happened. Only the crash had alerted people to anything that had gone amiss and it was quickly dismissed by some as a mere accident. When it was revealed what had happened, a fearful Mayor Hardy condemned Batman for putting lives in danger, earning himself several cat calls and boos from the crowd.

Hamilton Hill, although having criticised Batman in the past, must have sensed that this was his way to secure the election and instead praised the work of the GCPD and the Dark Knights, holding them up as defenders of the people against extreme criminals. The speech, as close to flip-flopping as one can get, nevertheless gave Hill a further boost at the polls, securing his election in November as Mayor of Gotham City.

This is not the time to go into Hill's administration, as transformative as it was for Gotham. His work managed to solidify the anti-poverty and anti-crime measures that had already been taken however and his is generally a positive legacy. Despite being a political animal at times, Hill managed to work on setting Gotham on the path to being the prosperous and functioning city it is today. What Gordon did in the police, the Batman did in the dark, Hill managed to do in City Hall.

With the capture of the Joker and the election having come and gone, peace had returned to Gotham once more. As ever though, it was not to last as Nygma put his long planned revenge into action. After completing his plans and setting up everything that was needed, he proceeded to kidnap four pro-Batman figures in the city on New Years Day, 1945. These were James Gordon, Alexander Knox, Lieutenant Crispus Allen and Selina Kyle. All were abducted from their homes, investigations into their houses showing that various drinks and foods had been spiked, allowing them to be carried away while the rest of the city was still celebrating the new year.

The first three were believed to have direct connections with Batman, Gordon having fought against the corruption of the city with the Dark Knight. Crispus Allen, the first African-American to rise to the rank of Liutenant in the GCPD and one of Gordon's key men in the department who supported the vigilante. And Knox, whose articles praising Batman had help shift the city's opinion on the man Nygma had deemed his rival. As his diaries revealed, Nygma had taken Kyle simply due to her comments about him, his petty jealousy having made her a target as well. At the scene of each kidnapping, a note with a riddle was found, as well as a bat drawn onto each note. The police were understandably perplexed at first, with the Bat-Signal being lit up as Lieutenant Harvey Bullock, temporarily taking command of the GCPD, reluctantly called in the Batman.

Despite being close to Gordon, Bullock's constant criticisms of the Batman was almost certainly the reason to not be among the four victims. It was enough to set him on edge to actually call the Dark Knight in to deal with the riddles dealt with in the notes. Even those who had spent the time since the discovery of the kidnappings and the arrival of Batman were confused by their meaning:

"If you look at the numbers on my face, you won't find thirteen any place.”

"Tear one off and scratch my head; what was once red is black instead.”

"The eight of us go forth, not back, to protect our king from a foe's attack."

“We're five little items of an everyday sort; you'll find us all in 'a tennis court'." 

The answers to each riddle (Clock, match, pawn and vowels) gave no clue as to where any of the victims were held or who had taken them. Testimony from the victims and Nygma himself afterwards led to the solution being in the riddles themselves. Each riddle had a number (Thirteen, one, eight and five) that corresponded to a letter of the alphabet (M, A, H and E) which was where the solution was supposed to reside. By putting the second and third number/letter together, the letter 'R' would be used instead leading to the final message of 'MRE'. This would lead to the culprit by separating the letters into Mr. E or 'mystery' and another word for that being enigma. Or, E. Nygma. 

Needless to say, when all this was revealed after the incident, Nygma was roundly mocked for his convoluted scheme, some newspapers latching onto the mocking nickname 'Riddler' thanks to his use of them.

With the clues given to his identity, Nygma then waited in the warehouse he had modified by Jenna Duffy. Bought using the money given to him by the elite of Gotham, Nygma had left a clear paper trail for anyone who had found the link between him and the kidnappings to follow. Each of the victims had been placed in a modified death trap that was not only meant for them, but for the Batman when he arrived. Nygma's reasoning was that the Batman would show up, to prove his intellect against Nygma if nothing else, attempt to rescue one of those trapped and then die in the attempt. Nygma would then kill the remaining three and spin the tale that Batman had been behind the kidnappings and Nygma had arrived too late to stop the heinous actions of an obvious madman.

It was the early hours of the 3rd January when the Batman, having managed to solve the riddles, tracked Nygma down to his warehouse along Port Adams. Proving himself capable of some foresight, Nygma had rigged each entrance to the building so that he was able to tell when the Batman had arrived, using that knowledge to lay down the challenge ahead of the Dark Knight over a loudspeaker after his entrance. With the threat of all the hostages being killed if the Black Bat also made her way into the warehouse, it was just Batman who had to face Nygma's challenge. Having to take on Nygma's challenges alone, the Batman was told that he would have to brave through four death-traps to rescue each hostage, dying if he failed to rescue them in time.

With little time to spare, the Batman went to help James Gordon first, entering a specially built chamber that began to flood the instant the door was sealed tight. Nygma stopped to watch and taunt from a safe place, leading to his downfall as he lost focus on the other hostages. Selina Kyle was, by her own admission, a woman who hated to be ignored. In this case, it was a blessing as she was finally free to try and escape her bonds without Nygma noticing the attempt. Not only versed in breaking into buildings with high security, she had also trained herself in escaping from a large host of situations, including bondage.

As soon as Nygma's attention had turned to the Batman entering the warehouse, Selina Kyle finally had her chance to escape without being noticed. Taking it fully, she went on to pull herself free and, showing more nobility than someone would expect from a self-confessed thief, rescued both Crispin Allen and Alexander Knox from their own traps. They managed to get free in time to witness Nygma having a break down as his carefully orchestrated plans came crashing down in front of him.

It says a lot about Edward Nygma as a person that he honestly believed Batman would see what was happening as an intellectual challenge, a contest of egos even if lives were on the line. Nygma had expected Batman to free Gordon, or abandon him to pick the intricate locking system on the door to free himself. Instead, Batman freed Gordon and then used the table he had been bound to as cover before blowing a hole through the wall using some explosives he had brought with him. 

For Nygma, this was an affront and proof that Batman was nothing more than an over-glorified cheater that couldn't match his level. Screaming that Batman wasn't up to his level, Nygma was completely oblivious to Crispus Allen until the police officer slammed him against a wall and placed him under arrest. Taken in, Nygma spent the entire time practically screaming that nothing had been proven and that Batman wasn't close to being his equal.

Over the next week, all of Nygma's secrets and dirty deeds were displayed as the police and press investigated him, Jenna Duffy quickly fleeing the state once she realised just how bad things were looking. His crimes were put on display and he was taken to court on multiple counts, including from endangerment of life, obstruction of justice, attempted murder and kidnapping. His rich 'friends' having deserted him, Nygma was now on his own to face trial for his actions.

For her part, Selina Kyle enjoyed a great amount of publicity for saving Knox and Allen, her previous crimes all but forgotten as she basked in the glow of the limelight and enjoyed it thoroughly. Her later marriage to Bruce Wayne could be seen as starting at this period, after being invited to a charity ball that saw the two meet for the first time.

Once again, the New Year had brought strain, but also hope for Gotham. Five months passed with the trials of the extreme criminals being the only major incidents within the city itself. The Joker was given a quick trial and handed the death sentence, as was Jonathan Crane. A sense of relief passed over the city, many starting to believe that the worst of the criminal element were about to get what they deserved and that Gotham had finally turned the page.

Winter had passed and Gotham was into spring when, on the 13th May, Arkham Asylum reported the death of former Mayor Reeves due to heart complications. For many, this wasn't a great surprise as Reeves' downfall had led to a complete mental and physical collapse for the man. Behind the announcement though were more sinister actions, as Doctor Hugo Strange had started his own plan that would ensure the downfall of the Batman.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Another few characters from the mythos brought in and mentioned. Nearing the end of Batman's career now and you can probably guess how it'll turn out.


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter Eight: The Final Year (1945-1946)   
_“Seven years as a vigilante would provide numerous life risking injuries. Broken bones, concussions, lacerations and numerous others would be common. In the example of the Batman, the surprise shouldn't be that he fell, but that he lasted for so long.”_

_Doctor Ami Mizuno, writing in her article 'Vigilantism and Its Long Term Effects on Health', 1998_

Mysteries are something those investigating the Batman have to get used to. Identities, actions and motives are quite often obscured by the secrets people hold or even the madness that inflicted many of those who played a role during this period and they help obscure what should have been certain facts. There are times when the mysteries are solved though, the case of Bane is one such example. His origins were unable to be traced for decades until the 1992 revolution of Santa Prisca and medical records being discovered in the infamous prison of Pena Duro.

Santa Prisca was notorious for its oppressive government that lasted throughout much of its history. Only with the end of aid the US gave to its anti-communist leadership during President Batson's 'better neighbour' policy did the government fall to revolutionary forces and allowed basic freedoms to the people there. The collapse of the government also opened up huge amounts of documents about the regime and the dark acts they had committed. Among these were medical records from Pena Duro that revealed the past of the man who would break the Batman.

Bane (His actual name was unknown, merely referred to in prison records as Prisoner 9301) had been born in Pena Duro after his mother had been tried for rebelling against the state. Bane's mother passed on shortly after his birth in 1912, leaving the child to be raised in the Hell that was Pena Duro. Despite his youth, Bane managed to survive in the prison, keeping just out of reach of those who sought to use him for their own ends, or worse. Bane first killed when he was only seven years old, defending himself from the designs of another prisoner before being thrown into a solitary cell.

For ten years, Bane had to endure nothing but his own company and the squalid conditions in his lone cell. Despite being in conditions that would have broken and killed many others, Bane seemed to gain focus and ambition. Once he was finally let out, he soon gained power and influence in Pena Duro, the other prisoners in awe of his ability to survive and his rapidly growing strength. By the time he was twenty-one, Bane had killed all his rivals and sought a better destiny, staging a prison riot that saw the guards slaughtered and a mass break out in 1933. From there, Bane went south to Bolivia where he took part in the Chaco War, gaining a name for his brutality as he fought a losing battle. From there, it is hard to trace his steps, vanishing completely until 1938 when a photo was taken of a band of mercenaries fighting in China, Bane among them.

We can only speculate on Bane's actions in China during its bloody conflict against Japan, but it seemed as if the inevitability of Japan's defeat caused him to move on. A person matching his description was involved in a bank robbery in late 1944 in Oregon before heading east. Using the notes and diaries of Hugo Strange, we can be certain that Bane came into contact with the doctor in December of 1944.

Why Bane went to Gotham is one mystery remaining about him. All that can be said for certain is that he had an obsession with the Batman that started as soon as he heard about him. Doctor Strange had himself been involved in the Chaco War, studying the effects of the conflict on the soldier's mental state and is where the two could have possibly first come into contact. Regardless of that, Bane was quickly hidden by Strange, being placed in Arkham Asylum as the proper files were quickly forged to help with matters.

It is here that Strange found the perfect test subject for his creation. Having doctorates in psychology and biology, Strange had long been interested by the thought of creating the ubermensch, having been greatly interested in Nazi ideology since the party came to power. He saw the Batman as a candidate for such a role, but Bane was one who could potentially be moulded into his own take on the philosophy. In striving towards his goal of creating his own ubermensch, Strange had developed a highly potent steroid that would rapidly push the human body to its great potential in a short amount of time.

Having developed the steroid throughout the early 40's, Strange had used his control of Arkham Asylum to experiment with the drug. Many patients who were subjected to it were prone to mood swings and extreme violence as the effect on the body soon showed on their minds as well. Very few responded well to the drug, it doing irreparable internal damage or, in the case of those like Aaron Helzinger, severely damaged their mental capacity despite having the intended physical effect.

Surprisingly enough, Bane volunteered to take the drug, if Doctor Strange's own testimony can be believed. Wanting to push himself to the limits to take on the Batman, he spent several months in Arkham, being monitored as he was subjected to the treatment. Amazingly, there appeared to be no adverse effects as Bane retained all his mental faculties and his physical prowess increased to almost inhuman levels. By May of 1945, Bane felt prepared to enact his plans, starting with an assault on Blackgate prison. As the city and country celebrated VE Day, Bane made his plans for an assault that was bound to bring the Batman out into the open.

The choice behind this stands out, in no small part due to Bane lining the date with the night that the Joker was to be executed. The 16th June had been selected after a speedy trial and crowds had gathered around Blackgate, many eager to see the end to the monster who had plagued Gotham for so long. Security was high, for fear of a riot and whether the Joker had managed to plan another escape and the area was filled with police as a result. Commissioner Gordon was on hand and the Batman and Black Bat were spotted by various witnesses, hiding in the shadows.

As prepared as the GCPD was though, they couldn't match Bane's own plans. He had spent the month travelling to New York, gathering followers there before striking at an arms depot and stealing weaponry bound for soldiers occupying Germany. The raid had been quick and efficient with the government hastily putting limits to any reports that might have revealed the theft. As a result, the GCPD was woefully unprepared when they were attacked by actual military ordinance after Bane and his men struck minutes before the Joker's execution was due to take place.

Chaos ensued as anti-tank ordinance shot into the crowd and battered the walls of Blackgate. Dozens were killed or injured in the first barrage before Bane made his first appearance to the crowd. Flanked by his men, he cut a swathe through the crowd, using his fists as his men used guns. Another blast to Blackgate blew the walls open wide with the chamber where the execution was scheduled to take place now with an opening. Other blasts struck other parts of Blackgate that gave prisoners free reign to attempt to escape. The twenty minutes that followed was a blood bath as Bane and his followers looked to keep the police busy as the prisoners of Blackgate staged a mass breakout. 

By the time some order was restored, the anti-tank ordinance had been either destroyed or captured and nearly half of the inmates from Blackgate had escaped. Among the escapees were Jonathan Crane, David Cain, Jervis Tetch, Edward Nygma and the Joker. On top of these were over two hundred criminals, most of whom had previously worked for the Falcone Mob. While the GCPD had managed to contain or take down many attempted escapees and a good number of Bane's gang, many still managed to escape, leaving behind 162 dead and injured. The Batman and Black Bat had been spotted by numerous witnesses in the fighting as they worked alongside police to minimise casualties while taking down as many of Bane's men and escapees as they could. Despite their best attempts though, they were still unable to stop Bane's plan from succeeding.

Just as Commissioner Gordon was trying to get as many men as possible to rally to the area around Blackgate and stop as many of the escapees as possible, he received even worse news. Hugo Strange had opened the gates of Arkham Asylum, killing several of the orderlies as he let out thirteen patients who had extremely violent tendencies. The name that stood out was Harvey Dent. Goham exploded into a frenzy of panic and violence as those Bane had released tried to find a safe place to hide or rampaged through the streets. The escape of many high profile names just made the situation worse and many began to panic over the thought of any of them continuing their attacks.

For the week after the dual break outs, the GCPD struggled to keep the city under control as Bane and his men funnelled weapons into the city to make the situation worse. Despite a genuine movement to get the National Guard finally sent in to calm things, Gotham prevailed. The initial outburst of violence was bloodily contained as the police managed to make some sudden arrests although thirty-one people are known to have died in this one week.

After the initial break out, Bane went into hiding, although a photo of him in the middle of the breakout was shown on the Gotham Gazette's front page. A tall, muscular man with his lower face obscured by a prototype gas mask. It periodically released some of the steroid via an aerosol, allowing him to inhale it so he had a constant supply. The design of the mask would become part of Bane's own signature look, many contrasting it with the Batman's cowl. Bane's role was questioned by many in the ensuing months. What was his plan? Did he even have one? Or was he like the Joker, someone who merely followed his destructive whims?

In the immediate aftermath of the mass breakout, there was no answer as Bane went back into hiding and others took the limelight. At first, it was the chaos that came from the escaped prisoners running riot. The smarter ones fled Gotham and tried to disappear into the country or even fled into Canada. Others stayed in Gotham, wanting to try and go back to the old ways of the Carmine family and joined Cobblepot's gang in order to accomplish this goal. This was, of course, a futile hope, but a surprisingly strong sentiment among those who had once worked for Carmine Falcone.

Those that helped plunge Gotham into a crime wave after their breakout soon found that the GCPD were a much stronger force than they had been four years ago. Commissioner Gordon's root and branch reform of the police had helped end the corruption to a large degree and the force was a much more professional organisation than it had been. Along with the efforts of the Batman and Black Bat, the chaos was stemmed after the initial week of the breakout. It didn't end the problem, but it did stop the city from descending into outright chaos. Despite these efforts and successes against the wave of crime however, the extreme criminals were still on the loose and the final part of the Batman mythos was to be brought in.

It is no surprise that Batman's actions inspired others to take on vigilante roles. Although the influence the Dark Knight had on other people shall be discussed in a later chapter, those who became vigilantes and cited the Batman as a reason for doing so are numerous in this period. They stood against the Nazi threat in Europe and fought for greater ideals in the US. Baltimore was the original home of one of these, the heavily Catholic city giving inspiration to its own masked vigilante, Azrael. Donning armour and a cloak as red as a cardinal's cape, Azrael was first seen in Baltimore in January 1942, aiding police in finding the victim of a kidnapping. 

Azrael continued to appear at various points over the next eighteen months before suddenly vanishing. His reappearance in Gotham caught many off guard, as he was seen publicly bringing a bank heist to an end on the 14th July. While the Batman and Black Bat had been either embraced or tolerated by the populace of Gotham, the appearance of Azrael put some elements of the city on edge. Some anti-catholic feeling was present among several parts of the Protestant-majority city, so the Catholic links that Azrael was believed to have made some think his appearance as a Papist plot. Others were more grounded in their concerns that yet another masked vigilante would add strain to an already volatile situation.

Whatever doubts there were about Azrael, they were to be answered. Jervis Tetch was one of the criminals who had escaped and been taken in by Oswald Cobblepot. Remembering the lucrative trade he had done before with the disgraced academic, Cobblepot had hidden Tetch once more and put him to work making his drugs. While the other extreme criminals were rightfully feared for what they could do, Tetch's ability to make people bow to his will through a few intakes of his formula caused great concern.

Having Tetch back under his protection, Cobblepot proceeded to overplay his hand however. The pressure put on him by the GCPD was making him fear for his freedom and he decided that drastic action was needed. He believed that by eliminating Gordon, the GCPD would lose its drive to go after him and maybe collapse back into its old habits. It was the same reasoning used by Mayor Reeves and had the same flaws behind it. The GCPD was stronger that it had been and Gordon had strong and competent officers to take his place should the worst have happened.

The attempt came when a young man named Warren Lawford had some of Tetch's concoction slipped into his drink at the Iceberg Lounge. A well known figure in Gotham's elite for being born into new money and having a criminal record that he used his vast wealth to escape from, Lawford found the rumours about Cobblepot's criminal links to be alluring and spent a lot of time and money in the Lounge. Seeing Lawford as a useful fool, Cobblepot drained the young man for al he could before deciding to use him as a way to strike at Gordon.

The influence Lawford was under made him willing to go straight to Jim Gordon's house, gun in hand with the full intention of killing the Commissioner on the spot. With the pressure Gotham was under though, several non-uniformed officers had been placed around Gordon's for protection house and Lawford was hastily taken down and arrested. Under interrogation, he revealed he had been at the Iceberg Lounge and the police were able to join the pieces from there. The Iceberg Lounge was raided for evidence, but nothing was discovered.

Instead, Tetch had been hidden away in a safehouse that soon came under attack during the police raid on the Iceberg Lounge. Tetch was under armed guard with Cobblepot determined not to lose him again. He was to be greatly disappointed as the safehouse was raided with the lab inside almost completely destroyed as Azrael attacked it on the 29th July. His methods were as effective as Batman's, although possibly even more brutal. The eight men left to guard Tetch had multiple broken bones each and severely concussed when police found them after answering an anonymous call. With the evidence that Tetch had been protected directly by Cobblepot, the crime boss was soon placed under arrest as well, although his wealth and excellent legal team allowed him to quickly come out on bail.

While this job was done alone, Azrael was seen multiple times with either Batman or the Black Bat over the next month, protecting people from the criminals on the streets or continuing the hunt for Bane. As Azrael was increasing his own role in protecting Gotham though, it would be Jim Gordon who would be involved as Harvey Dent resurfaced. Believing that Gordon and the Batman were still responsible for his disfigurement and disgrace, Dent had been eager for revenge since the outbreak in Arkham. Despite his attempts though, he couldn't get close to Gordon due to the greatly increased security detail around the Commissioner.

Having had no luck in trying to grab Gordon, Dent actually decided to use his past friendship with the Commissioner instead. He sent a letter to Gordon on the 20th August, asking to have a private conversation about their past and what Dent could do to turn things around. Despite Gordon's own instincts telling him it was a trap, a guilty conscience caused him to agree to the meeting, taking no one else with him. As Gordon was to later admit, he was disappointed, but not surprised, when he met with Dent in the shadow of the courthouse where the fateful attack by Maroni had taken place and the latter pulled out a gun. Blaming Gordon for everything that had happened, Dent then stated that Gordon was on trial for betrayal, attempted murder and the destruction of Harvey Dent's life.

Gordon listened as Dent ranted, charging himself and acting as prosecutor and judge, ready to deal a death sentence to the Commissioner. Before he could, Gordon reminded Dent that if this was a trial, he was allowed a defence and he chose Harvey Dent for the job. Dent flipped his coin and it came up clean, leading to Gordon getting his defence. Actually questioning himself, Dent broke down the lies that he had been fed by Nygma as well as those that he himself had created. 

The persona that had been created from Dent's scarring was barraged with questions about whether or not Gordon had forced him to the trial, whether it had been Dent's own obsession that had driven him towards it and who was truly to blame. Faced with these questions and with Dent pushing himself, he was forced to confront the truth, that Gordon and the Batman weren't responsible for what had happened. With this self-realisation, Dent dropped the gun and surrendered himself to Gordon. Placing his former friend under arrest, Gordon then escorted Dent back to a station, although those who saw the two noted that the Commissioner looked more defeated than jubilant.

Although Dent had been brought into custody without bloodshed, there were still plenty of threats to Gotham as events were soon to prove. A series of dead bodies were found throughout the city in the week after Dent's capture. At first, it was believed to be the Joker, but the murders were not designed for attention and all had the common link of being single fathers with daughters. Witnesses were soon able to give the identity of David Cain as the murderer although his motivations, at the time, were utterly unknown.

The security around James Gordon was quickly brought to even higher levels as there were fears that the hitman would return to finish the one job he hadn't been able to complete. Gordon's daughter was also placed under heightened protection, for fear that she would be struck at as Cain could have been after revenge for her stopping him from killing the Batman. Although there was some speculation that it would be 'round two' between Cain and the Dark Knight, it wouldn't be Batman who would step in this time.

After two weeks of his killing spree and nine victims, Cain made his attempt on James Gordon while the latter was making his way home from work. Cain struck by shooting at Gordon's security as they were driving through Gotham's packed streets. Having used some military hardware he had stolen, Cain dealt with the two cars of Gordon's security before focusing in on the Commissioner himself. Trapped between the burning husks of the two cars, Gordon later admitted that he felt as if he was truly going to die at that point.

It was at this moment that Cain was stopped by the arrival of the Black Bat. For those who had seen her fight, the Black Bat had developed a reputation as a no-nonsense sort who put down those who went against her quickly and efficiently. Here though, she hesitated, as did Cain, as Gordon would later note in his diaries. After a few seconds though, the Black Bat struck and the fight was swiftly over, all resistance seemingly leaving Cain as the vigilante unleashed several blows upon him.

Gordon's diaries are an interesting source to use and have uncovered various background facts in the workings of Gotham at the time. But one thing they do not do is offer any speculation by Gordon in regards to the Batman, his allies, their motivations or identities. It can be easy to see why he would do this, to prevent the threat of people discovering his diaries and using them to either discredit him, or try to learn of the identity of the Batman and his allies. They nevertheless did point out the hesitation between Cain and the Black Bat, revealing something no one else had noticed in the fight.

With the insight Gordon's diaries allow us, we now have a reason behind Cain's behaviours in regards to the murders. At the time, it was dismissed as Cain having gone mad in the aftermath of the mass outbreak, but the pattern points to something else entirely. Killing single fathers before focusing on Gordon was believed merely to be work of Cain's mind having snapped after his failures. What it may well point to was the relationship between the Batman and the Black Bat. Although speculation was rife that they were lovers, Cain's actions point to something far different. That the Black Bat was related to Cain and very possibly his daughter.

The murder of single fathers with daughters, coupled with Gordon being the target (Himself divorced and living with his daughter), was almost certainly more of a message to the Batman than anything else. The Black Bat had appeared after Cain's arrest and under Batman's guidance, working against everything Cain had spent his life doing. By going after fathers, Cain hadn't been sending a message to Gordon, but to Batman. It can be argued, albeit with circumstantial evidence, that Cain had been working to send a message to the Batman to return his daughter to him.

This is a statement based off circumstantial evidence, as I admit, but Cain's obsessive actions point to a personal motivation. After his second arrest, he offered no reasoning behind his actions or resistance, bar one comment before his execution, saying that he hoped she was happy. Cain having a daughter, trained to follow in his footsteps, only to reject his ways completely and move towards the path set by the Batman would certainly be a blow a man like him would find hard to recover from.

The fight between the Black Bat and Cain was over almost as soon as it began, Cain surrendering after a few blows knocked him off his feet and Gordon quickly placed the cuffs on him. Other members of the GCPD soon arrived, taking Cain into custody and ending another threat to Gotham, although at a great cost. Despite the spate of arrests though, Gotham was still unsettled and Bane himself was starting to make his presence known, striking at criminals and the police alike as he attacked businesses owned by Oswald Cobblepot. Various rackets were brought under his control as Cobblepot floundered from the legal pressure brought on him by police and the war he had to fight against Bane.

As September passed into October, another gang war had been reignited as Bane looked to seize control and Cobblepot tried to cling onto his power. As the GCPD tried to deal with this, Edward Nygma and the Joker both resurfaced, both feeling they had been out of the limelight for far too long. For Nygma, he felt that the time had come for him to get his revenge on the Batman, believing he had prepared a trap that the Dark Knight would find impossible to defeat this time. For the Joker's part, he created terror in Gotham simply by being seen, many fearing that he would kill on the spot.. He caused panic throughout October with his appearances and raids on chemical depots and even chemist stores. A string of bodies were left in his wake and the police once more turned their efforts to bringing the madman in.

Eager to get to the Batman before Joker could make a move, Nygma started a string of attacks of police at their homes. Waiting until they would either leave home for work or come back after their shift, Nymga would fire a shot from a gun at them or their houses before fleeing. There was only one fatality when Nygma's shot went through a window and struck the unfortunate cat belonging to one of the officers. These attacks appeared random at first, until it was discovered by the Batman that the letters spelling out the number of each house the attacked police officers lived in were, a code based off the co-ordinates of each house. Deciphering the code led to Batman tracking down Nygma's hiding place on the 18th October to a rented out storage space in Gotham Docks.

Arriving there, the Batman would find the warehouse mostly abandoned, except for a large steel crate. Having opened it, the Batman had in fact set Nygma's trap off, that of a series of explosives placed around the building that were strong enough to blow the entire warehouse to pieces. The resulting explosion levelled the building and the shockwave from it caused windows to shatter across the street. Having watched from a safe vantage point, Nygma then got into a car and travelled to the nearest police station, handing himself in and confessing to the crime of 'killing' the Batman.

Such was Nygma's ego, that he was willing to risk the electric chair just so people would know that he had finally outsmarted his rival. But, as he was in the middle of his gloating, Nygma was stopped as the officers pointed to the window, all of them able to see the Batman standing on the opposite side of the street. Within moments, Nygma began to have a full fledged breakdown as he couldn't believe what he was seeing, screaming that this was a trick, that Batman had cheated, that there was no possible way he could be alive. He soon had to be restrained before being dragged to his cell, screaming the entire way.

How Batman managed to survive the blast was a source of speculation, with some even believing that he didn't and the one who appeared afterwards was a stand-in or ally. The most likely explanation is no less remarkable however. Nygma revealed that he had left the bomb with a timer of exactly ten seconds, as the steel crate had a small message inside, a final piece of gloating from Nygma to the Dark Knight. While the time wasn't enough for the Batman to have fled from the building, it was enough for him to read the note, dive into the crate and shut it before the explosives went off. The thickness of the crate actually saved Batman's life, given great help by Nygma's ego in the fact he had to leave Batman enough time to read the note and know who was responsible. 

The reasons behind the escape came out after an investigation by the GCPD into the building revealed the truth, with some deduction involved. The Black Bat and Azrael were both seen by witnesses and it's not unreasonable to assume that they helped dig Batman out of the wreckage of the building. Despite though, the shock from the explosion must surely have had a long term effect on his health, most likely explaining the events and why they happened the way they did.

Only two names were left now among the GCPD's most wanted list, John Crane and the Joker. While the gang war between Bane and Cobblepot continued with the former gradually gaining the upper hand, the fears over what the escapees could do had everyone on edge. What was unknown at the time was that Crane still had various stashes of his gas throughout the city and had spent his time gathering them and quietly making more. He looked to unleash it all in one blast, focusing on an event that would cause a death toll in the thousands.

The 1945 football season was starting to wind down with the Gotham Knights having had a mediocre run throughout the year. Taking on the Fawcett City Marvels on the 8th December, the Knights and their fans packed into the Knights Dome Sporting Complex for one of the last games of the season. Due to the chaos in the city in recent months, there were fewer Fawcett City fans than hoped. Most of those who had escaped from Blackgate had been brought back into custody, with the GCPD or the Batman and his allies having recaptured them. Those from Arkham were still on the loose though, with evidence pointing towards them having rallied around the Joker. Each person who had escaped from Arkham had violent tendencies and them being led by the Joker was a nightmarish prospect for many.

It was Crane who would be the first to rear his head though, having spent the months since his escape gathering all his resources to attack. Besides the exits of the building, Crane placed explosives with the gas inside, his plan to cause a panic in the stadium before setting off the explosives as people left, causing the fear gas to effect hundreds of people and spread panic throughout the crowd and into the city. Thankfully, Crane had left a trail of clues, such as witnesses spotting him get close to the arena and the police had already been alerted, although concern over setting off any trap made their response cautious. This was not so for the Black Bat and Azrael, who appeared on the scene.

The attempt by Crane to unleash such a horrendous attack is notable as it was the first time Azrael and the Black Bat were seen together. The lack of Batman was also noticed, it being only a week after surviving Nygma's trap and even someone with his physical abilities must have needed time to recover from being at ground zero of such an explosion, shielded or not. Having hid himself high in the nosebleed seats, Crane was waiting for the right time to set off a panic with a grenade primed and ready to throw. Before he could do such a thing though, the Black Bat appeared to swiftly take out the former psychologist in a series of short blows. Having carried a gun with him as well, Crane didn't even have time to use that, having it knocked from his hand with a swift kick that sent it down the stairs and finally made the crowd realise what was going on.

By then, it was too late to witness much, aside from the Black Bat putting some cuffs on Crane to restrain him. Some confusion reigned as the crowd started to question what was going on, only added to as the GCPD came into the stadium and forced an evacuation (To some relief, as the Gotham Knights were losing quite handily) while they searched for explosives. Azrael had been seen by police finding some of the explosives at one of the stadium's entrances and defusing it, giving the GCPD the sign to do so themselves. Clearing the stadium and taking Crane into custody, the GCPD tracked down and defused the bombs left there, the Black Bat and Azrael leaving once their part was finished.

While both the Black Bat and Azrael had been seen before without the Batman, this was the first time both had been seen without him present. With the belief that he was leading the trio very common, his absence was noted by witnesses and the press, many wondering if he was starting to slow down after the years under the cowl. Confidence in the Dark Knight wavered as the Christmas season passed and nothing was seen of him, even as sightings of the Black Bat and Azrael continued. The Batman himself wouldn't be seen until the 31st December, and it would be in the most dramatic fashion. 

Having spent as much time as he could tolerate in the shadows, the Joker finally decided to make his move. He had gathered enough chemicals to make a liquid form of his gas, using his gang to drive it to the Gotham City reservoir. Insulted over how people like Bane and Scarecrow kept stealing his spotlight, the Joker was determined to do something to make his name known, so that he would stand above everyone else in Gotham. Having attacked the reservoir and filled the water meant for the city with his concoction, the Joker was all but prepared to release it when the Batman appeared.

What happened that night is something that has never been settled and, without dramatic new evidence being found, probably never will. All the GCPD found when they reached the reservoir four hours into the New Year were the Joker's gang beaten and trussed up, the viaducts of the reservoir blown up, stopping all water from reaching the city, and a single body floating in the poisoned water. As news spread about the discovery and what had happened at the reservoir, frustration over losing access to water quickly switched to intense scenes of celebration.

The Joker was dead.

Those of Joker's gang who were interviewed weren't the most reliable of witnesses, each with a past of violence and a history of mental health issues. They each told the same story though, that the Batman had somehow managed blow up the viaducts of the reservoir before the Joker could release the poisoned water into the city, taken the gang out before chasing after the Joker himself. What happened next had no witnesses but it ended with the Joker's corpse being fished out of the poisoned reservoir and the Batman nowhere to be seen.

Did the Batman murder the Joker? That is the question, more than almost any other, which has caused debate for anyone who has studied the Batman, or is even aware of him. Had the Batman, disgusted by the Joker's crimes with the attempt to kill thousands of people, finally pushed him to ending the madman's life? Had there been a struggle between the two that had caused the Joker to fall into the poisoned water, it being nothing more than an accident in a fight? Or had the Joker, frustrated at the derailing of his scheme and knowing he had be sent to the chair as soon as he was in custody anyway, kill himself in an act designed to destroy the Dark Knight's reputation?

All interpretations have been suggested and I share my opinion with what Joseph Dawson put forward in his own research for Watching The Darkness. In all the years that Batman defended the city of Gotham, no death can be directly and reliably attributed to him. There were always rumours, but nothing verifiable and the fact that Batman could have easily brought Joker in to be executed means that the act of murder would have been completely unnecessary. A final act of spite is the much more logical assumption, as much as logic can be applied to the Joker.

What is also telling is that Commissioner Gordon never put new resources forward to hunt down the Batman. As much as he must have been indebted to the Dark Knight, Gordon's integrity was beyond reproach. If he had believed that the Batman had murdered someone, it would be beyond doubt that he would have charged him for it. As it was, the death of the Joker was ruled accidental following several weeks of investigation and, it must be admitted, by an incredibly biased populace. Because of the Joker's crimes he had inflicted on Gotham, it's entirely plausible that no one could have been convicted for his death, regardless of circumstances.

After having his remains identified and examined, the Joker's body was then cremated and his ashes scattered at an unknown spot. Records that were opened to the public forty years later revealed that Detective Harvey Bullock of the GCPD had been responsible for the ashes and, in an action which was described as being typical of the man, he promptly dumped down the filthiest toilet he could find. It was an end that few would have found reason to disagree with.

The first few days of 1946 passed with many celebrating and feeling that the worst had finished, the GCPD now free to focus on Bane, who now quickly started his end game. It began by taking out Cobblepot's most loyal and toughest lieutenant, Waylon Jones. The man known as Killer Croc had been at the forefront of the war between Bane and his employer, stopping as many of the incursions on Cobblepot's territory as he could. Now, Bane acted by striking at Jones as the latter was running a shipment of guns for his boss' embattled forces.

Ambushing the truck carrying the weapons on the outskirts of Gotham, Bane would lead his men in the attack, actually facing Jones himself in hand combat as both men were eager to get their hands on the other. Jones was well known for his strength and brutal fighting style, having gone toe-to-toe with the Batman and gone down defiantly. In Bane though, he would find a man who was even stronger than anyone who he had faced before. From those who witnessed the fight, this wasn't the struggle that had been Jones fighting the Batman, this was a merciless beat-down that Jones barely survived.

The fight took place on the banks of the Delaware River, the Moonlight being the only thing that made the two sides visible to each other. From the outset, Bane was ready and willing to press every advantage he had, outmatching Jones considerably with a savage beating. Despite everything, Jones apparently remained defiant throughout, insulting Bane when his fists couldn't defend himself. After one barb to many, Bane broke both of Jones' arms and then threw him into the Delaware River to die.

His work done, Bane allowed the surviving members of Jones' group to flee before taking the weapons for himself. That done, he proceeded onwards to Gotham, looking to end Cobblepot's control over crime in Gotham once and for all. News soon spread of Bane's imminent arrival, the rumours of the fight at the Delaware River reaching Gotham hours before Bane himself did. When the rumours reached Cobblepot, he reacted in a way which surprised most of those who knew him. 

His empires in tatters, his forces weakened and a veritable army rushing for his front door, Cobblepot reacted with an almost serene attitude to things. He closed down the Iceberg Lounge to the public, paid off all his remaining employees (Legitimate and otherwise) with generous sums before bidding them fond farewells. He then sat and waited calmly for his fate in the foyer of his club, the one legitimate achievement that he had accomplished with his life that had nothing to do with crime. This surprising act of courage and nobility seemed to go against Cobblepot's character in many ways. But, as the man was to later say, the Cobblepots had lived and died in Gotham since its creation, but they had never fled from it.

On the fourth of January, three o'clock in the morning, Bane and his men pulled up in front of the Iceberg Lounge, ready to finish Cobblepot off once and for all. They were to get a surprise in the form of the GCPD, who were rushing to the scene in order to catch Bane, and the Batman and his allies, who led the defence. The Batman, Black Bat and Azrael fell upon Bane's men as soon as they left their trucks, catching them by surprise. With it being dark, the smaller group had the advantage of surprise before Bane himself intervened.

Although many had left the area around the Iceberg Lounge, a few brave and foolish people lingered on as they had hoped to see the fight unfurl. As Bane left the truck, those who remained admitted that their gaze went directly on him, Bane's large form and commanding presence catching their attention. They were not the only ones, as the Batman threw one of Bane's men through a wind-shield before facing the man who had been responsible for the outbreak at Blackgate and all that had followed.

The two faced off against each other, Bane towering over the Batman before they started their fight. For the first flurry of action, it seemed as if the Batman held the advantage, unleashing blows that Bane did little to counter. This changed all too soon however, as Bane shrugged off the initial attacks from the Dark Knight and dealt a blow that sent the Batman to his knees. What followed was a series of strikes as Bane beat down his opponent relentlessly, using nearby cars to throw the Dark Knight into as his men managed to keep the Black Bat and Azrael at bay.

Things were rapidly changing though as more and more of the GCPD flooded the area, trying to get to Bane. With the Batman barely able to stand, Bane decided to end it quickly and dramatically. In a great display of strength, Bane picked Batman up and then slammed him across his knee, ending the fight in a swift action that left everyone stunned. There was an actual pause in the fighting as this action was watched, no one moving, all having witnessed the defeat, maybe even death, of a legend.

In that moment, Bane had broken the Batman.

Within moments however, Commissioner Gordon finally arrived on the scene to lead the GCPD to arrest Bane and his men. This was the signal for Bane himself to flee, getting in a car as his followers covered his retreat. In the confusion, the Batman and his allies disappeared, with only two witnesses saying they had seen Black Bat and Azrael take the Batman to safety. All Gordon had by the time the fighting was over was a handful of arrests and deaths from the fighting while the story about the Batman's defeat soon spread across the city like wildfire, it being the headline in every morning edition newspaper in Gotham.

For many living in Gotham, the defeat, and possible death of the Batman, was a shock to the system. He had retained his popularity as a folk hero to many, despite (Or even because of) the death of the Joker mere days before. The morale of many in Gotham, having reached dizzying heights after the Joker's death, now plummeted and many feared that Bane was unstoppable, a fear aided by a bomb being set off outside Gotham's City Hall. Two people were killed, a much lower death toll than normal for such an action in Gotham, but with a note left claiming it was the work of Bane. It was was seen as a real possibility that Bane would take over as Carmine Falcone had once done.

The threat that Bane represented to the city of Gotham seemed to be unstoppable. He had defeated the Batman and it seemed that he would take over. Although remaining in Gotham, Cobblepot was helpless to stop the remains of his organisation defecting en masse to Bane in the week following Batman's defeat. Left with just the Iceberg Lounge, he stayed to manage it as he was forced into purely legitimate means to support himself. For one week, it seemed as if nothing could stand against Bane as he eluded police and took part in numerous attacks against Gotham city authority, as if he wished to tear everything down. Bombs were set and public officials were publicly attacked as the police strained to contain the wave of violence.

Then, on the 11th January, a bomb went off at Gotham City Bank at eleven at night. Two of Bane's men, having taken what they had wanted after breaking into the vaults, had blown the place up to prevent any evidence being found. Having tried to escape via the roofs of Gotham, they were stopped by a shadowy figure. Their attempts to kill him to escape were for nothing as they were quickly beaten and subdued. When the police found the tied men, the question as to who did this to them was answered in the most surprising way.

The Batman had returned.

The news (Which Gordon helped to leak) sent shock waves through the city and it seemed as if there was actual hope against Bane now. The Batman had accomplished the impossible before, so why not now as well? Was it not possible for him to have recovered completely from his defeat? I shall look more into this later, but the important fact was that the Batman had seemingly returned and was ready to take the fight to Bane. The reaction Bane had to this was to offer the challenge to Batman, wanting to end the threat quickly.

Leading his men to Wayne Tower in Gotham's Diamond District on the 14th January, Bane took the workers in the building hostage, demanding that the Batman reveal himself. Giving the Dark Knight until midday, Bane and his men faced off a siege from the GCPD as everyone waited for the Batman to arrive. Commissioner Gordon was there, getting closer to ordering his men to take up positions to capture the building when the Batman arrived. On one of the few occasions where he was seen in broad daylight, he stood outside of Wayne Tower, as if challenging Bane himself. Bane would not be long in answering it.

Waving aside his men, Bane stepped outside of Wayne Tower to face the Dark Knight. While he had left himself vulnerable to a shot from the police, the window of opportunity was quickly shut as the Batman moved forward, starting the fight between the two. The crowd which had quickly gathered on the freezing day instantly began to shout encouragement to their hero as he went toe-to-toe with Bane. All the while, the guns of the police were trained on the two men, ready to take the shot needed if given a chance.

Unlike the first fight, Bane did not hold back at first, instead meeting the Batman's blows with his own. Neither gave an inch or quarter as they fought on the street, proving equally matched as Bane's strength was countered by the Batman's better reflexes and speed. Commissioner Gordon made several telling comments in his diaries about this, noting that the fighting style didn't seem as familiar from when he had seen it before. It plays into a theory I shall discuss later, but despite the legend surrounding the Batman and his incredible abilities, it can be taken as a fact that the man who fought Bane at Wayne Tower was different from the one who had faced him at the Iceberg Lounge.

Before long, the battle had left both men beaten and swaying on their feet. Bane seemed to get more agitated with each passing moment. Unable to finish off the Batman, Bane was slowly worn down by blows that would have easily felled a lesser man. With his own natural strength amplified by Hugo Strange's steroid, Bane could take a beating beyond the endurance of normal men. Even with the steroid though, the Batman found a way to overcome the odds. Using a rope with a metal hook attached to it, the Batman had thrown it up onto a ledge on Wayne Tower earlier in the fight. Once Bane had grown so distracted that he was focused solely on his opponent, the Dark Knight lured him into a position where he could pull on the rope in an impressive display of strength, causing the stone on the ledge to fall and collapse on top of Bane.

Lying under the ruins of Wayne Tower, Bane was still stirring and defiant until the Batman walked over to him and landed one final blow that put him to rest. For a moment, it appeared that the Batman was going to land another punch, potentially killing Bane, but stopped at the last moment, content to leave the police to clear up the mess. Inside Wayne Tower, Bane's men had been dispatched by the Black Bat as everyone had focused on the fighting, allowing the hostages to go free.

With Bane's defeat, Gotham finally knew peace after years of chaos from the downfall of the Falcone family and the extreme criminals which had infested its streets. Slowly, the Batman himself faded from view. There were always reports afterwards from people claiming to have seen the Batman in some place or another, even an outlandish one where several people claimed to have seen two Batmen fighting each other in August of 1946. Without the need for a Dark Knight to help it, Gotham City was able to grow beyond Batman, sightings of him growing less and less over the years with actual, reliable, confirmed sightings all but stopping in 1947.

Gotham City had changed greatly since 1939. Once corrupt and dangerous with little hope of breaking the cycle of crime, the Batman had been the force that had helped break the crime syndicates and bring forward a new age. He had help from many others, of course, but it was the Batman who had helped make the momentum unstoppable. But, there were still lingering issues in the years after the Batman defeated Bane. The city still had to deal with the changes that had happened and there were those who continued the Batman's work. Unanswered questions still remained as well, including the most important one.

Who was the man under the cowl?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here's the final year of Batman's career and I hope it's suitably dramatic. Have a few chapters to follow including the aftermath, impact of the Batman and speculation over who was under the mask. Hope you all enjoy.


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter Nine: The Aftermath

  
_“Symbols can be great things. They inspire and drive people onwards. But at the end of the day, they are only symbols. It is the people behind them that truly bring their meaning to life. With people, symbols can move the world."_

_Governor of New York Steve Rogers, 1964_

After the capture of Bane, the work that had started with Batman would still continue. Gotham City was free of the corruption and extreme criminals which had plagued it and many were working to see it stayed that way. At the forefront of all this was James Gordon, who proved to be a hero of Gotham in its worst years and provided a stable, honest figure as it transitioned fully towards the future. With crime at an all time low in Gotham, Gordon was able to use the peace to its fullest extent, turning the GCPD into one of the finest police forces in the US.

With Mayor Hill's full backing, other figures entered into the picture to help Gotham grow and flourish. Wayne Enterprises, now having to look elsewhere for opportunities after the end of World War II, started to aid City Hall attempts at reinvigorating deprived areas. With the goal to all but eliminate poverty in Gotham, the program would carry on throughout the rest of the 40's and well into the 50's. It aimed to greatly improve the quality of healthcare, education and job opportunities throughout the city. When the program came to an end in 1956, the aim to eliminate poverty completely had by no means been met, but Gotham had changed for the better and it many of its parts carried on in some form or another for many years afterwards.

The Gotham City of the modern day still bares the hallmarks of its past. You can easily find over a dozen tour buses giving different sights into the city, showing off the locations, real or fictional, where Batman was seen. Park Row, an area once infamous for being among the worst in Gotham, is typical of the rejuvenation seen in the city as it is now one of the most desirable areas of the city to live in. The port city once the main area on the American East Coast for corruption and graft greatly cleaned up its act to the extent that came to be regarded better than many of its neighbours. It still makes some money from its own questionable history, the tourism trade around the Batman bringing in tens of thousands of tourists a year.

Gotham City is by no means perfect, but the hard work put into the city in the decade after Batman's defeat of Bane bore fruit that still shows today. Although crime still exists, its figures are low compared to that of New York and other cities in across America. From the chaos of the 1940's, a city emerged that transformed and rose from the worst of its excesses into a vibrant place to live. Despite that though, it still has a tendency to look towards those seven years of the Batman's presence and what impact he had. It was a time in Gotham when a legend was formed and it seemed as if the stories of a swashbuckling pulp hero had come to life.

Although the Batman himself faded from view, there were still those left behind who had made their impact upon Gotham who had still yet to finish their own stories. I have decided to give them their own summary as it seems incomplete to talk about Batman without mentioning them as well:

Crispus Allen – After helping bring in Edward Nygma for the first time, Crispus Allen went on to become one of the major names in helping James Gordon secure the stability that Gotham now enjoyed. He rose through the ranks, becoming the first African-American in that rank of a police force. He became prominent nation-wide in this role, receiving abuse and praise from all corners as he went about his job. He eventually retired in 1964, going on to become heavily involved in the civil rights movement. He eventually passed away in 1979, having left a mark on Gotham as a force for justice and progress.

Bane – The 'Man Who Broke Batman' was deemed as a high threat when he was taken into custody, placed under tight security as the fear of his abilities, coupled with some of his followers still being free, meant that many feared an escape attempt. But, the threat never came to pass as the side effects of the steroid that Hugo Strange had given to Bane finally came to pass. Without constant doses of the drug, Bane's body and mind deteriorated at a rapid rate, making him unable to walk within a year. His body all but rotted away and he died in 1948, a warning to all who would experiment with the work of madmen.

David Cain – One of the world's most efficient assassins was himself executed in May of 1946, a broken man. After his capture by the Black Bat, Cain was utterly despondent and apparently eager for death at the end. On the night of his execution, he rejected a final meal and his final words were simply wishing that 'she' was happy. He said nothing else and met his end quietly. Cain's reputation grew in the following years, being thought of as Batman's rival in fighting prowess, second only to Bane when it came to the ability to face Batman in a straight-up fight. At the end though, he was broken and ultimately resigned to his fate, the execution of a common criminal.

Oswald Cobblepot – As a man who had once tried to become King of Gotham, the destruction of his criminal empire left Cobblepot left with only the Iceberg Lounge to fall back on. With pressure from police, Cobblepot was forced onto the straight and narrow as his trial took place throughout 1946. Having sunk his money into a top notch legal team, Cobblepot's efforts paid off as he was found not guilty on the charges put before him. As a response though, the GCPD put him under constant surveillance and any attempts at legal activities were stopped before they even began. Cobblepot spent the rest of his days running the Iceberg Lounge. He gained something of a following as he told the tale of how he stood toe-to-toe against Bane, but never managed to regain the wealth and influence his family had once possessed. He passed away in 1968 at the age of seventy-two, regarded as a relic and having spent his twilight years selling off his club and living quietly, wistfully thinking of past glories that never were.

Jonathan Crane – The man known as the Scarecrow was swiftly taken into custody after his capture and put back on Death Row. He was executed by the electric chair in April 1946 and his body cremated. Although a demented and ultimately dangerous figure, his work on nerve gas and its impact did not go noticed. His 'Fear Gas' was extensively studied by scientists of various nations in the years after his death and was used extensively in the Iran-Iraq War. Its use in 1984 by Iraq is what caused President Batson to break all ties with the nation before negotiating a ceasefire between the warring countries. The use of a gas developed by one of America's own villains was too much for the government to stomach and the gas itself has been banned by almost all nations. Crane's legacy is a dark one on humanity, with his work casting a shadow even after all these years.

Harvey Dent – Perhaps the most tragic figure to ever face the Batman, Dent handing himself over to Gordon saw him being sent to a mental hospital outside of Gotham City's boundaries. He would spent the rest of his life there, his mind forever conflicted between the duality of his own warped personalities, and the guilt he felt for his actions. He passed away in 1952, broken and mourned by those who remembered the once crusading man who had taken the fight to the corrupt of Gotham.

Jenna Duffy – Caught by police in 1945, Duffy was arrested and sent back to Gotham where she was charged with aiding and abetting Edward Nygma's mad schemes. Given an eight year sentence, Duffy actually managed to make something of herself while in prison, entering a Wayne Enterprises sponsored prisoner rehabilitation program. Her skills with woodwork and mechanics soon saw her teaching other inmates as part of the scheme. When released, she went on to become a teacher at a local school, putting her criminal ways behind her and eventually dying in 1970 after complications with cancer. After her brief role in crime, she eventually went onto become something of a pillar of Gotham's community and spoke about her relationship with Nygma only with regret.

Barbara Gordon – James Gordon's daughter had made a name for herself by helping her father and the Batman bring in David Cain. Inspired by her role in this, Barbara Gordon dedicated herself to studying how to become a police officer, joining the force in 1948. From their, she rose through the ranks, breaking previously strong barriers that would have held her back because of her gender. She rose through the ranks to become the first female police commissioner in Gotham's history in 1965. She remained in the role until her retirement in 1973, although remained active in training and helping new police officers in the force. She passed away due to natural causes in 1995, having been a pillar of the community in Gotham and one of those who helped secure the legacy of her father and the Batman.

James Gordon – Having been at the forefront of the fight against the extreme crime and corruption that had plagued Gotham for so long, James Gordon remained as Commissioner of the GCPD to help stabilise the city in the years following it. He served the city well, turning the GCPD into one of the most well run and highly regarded police forces in the country. He never gave a clear answer on the Batman's involvement with the GCPD, merely sticking to the 'illegal vigilante' line he had given throughout the years of Batman's role in the city. Refusing to divulge anything about the Dark Knight further than that, Gordon was simply focused on his job. He was so devoted to his position that it took a heart attack in 1956 to get him to step down, at which point, he retired with his family. He still attended community meetings and helped organise community watches to help tackle crime, as well as serving as an unofficial advisor for many police captains still on the force. He passed away in 1963 and given a borderline state funeral by the city that he had served so well and for so long.

Hamilton Hill – Mayor Hill held three terms in leading City Hall. These terms were to transform Gotham as Hill focused on economic renewal and ending the poverty inflicting the city. Although not entirely successful, Hill did indeed help renew Gotham into a vibrant and much safer city. He built on the accomplishments of those around him to turn Gotham into a better city for all its inhabitants. He resigned as Mayor to stand for Governor of Delaware in 1956, successfully standing for two terms before eventually retiring from politics due to age and health concerns. He returned to Gotham City to live out his remaining years, passing away in 1972 after a long life of successful public service.

Waylon Jones – Out of all those who made their names during this period in Gotham's history, it was surprisingly the man who was known as 'Killer Croc' who would get the only happy ending from those who fought against Batman. He managed to survive the fight with Bane, resurfacing from the Delaware River and deciding to quit Gotham for good and returned to his roots as a circus freak in the Haly Circus. It was here that Jones seemed to be at home in his new surroundings, mellowing out from his earlier rage filled days and building an almost family like relation with the rest of the freak show members of the circus. He would spend the rest of his days at the circus, passing away in 1958 in Maine due to complications that came from his earlier injuries. It was only after his death that the truth behind his past was discovered by those he had worked with for over a decade. A violent man throughout his life, Jones had managed to find some semblance of peace in his final years, a great accomplishment when considering many of his peers.

Alexander Knox – The crusading reporter continued on at the _Gotham Gazette_ , working hard on exposing the remaining crime and corruption in the city while digging further into the mystery of the Batman. He wrote a book on his experiences, entitled _The Dark Knight_ , releasing it in 1955 as it became a nation-wide best seller, giving a full in depth view of the Batman and his actions around this period. Knox would later grow to become an arch-defender of vigilante heroes in situations similar to Gotham's own. He would continue to work as a writer and reporter up until his death in 1969, having been a major reason why the Batman's legend had spread so far and wide.

Edward Nygma – After being arrested and his attempt to kill that Batman soundly defeated, Nygma had could what only be described as some kind of nervous breakdown. Although the truth was later deduced by the police and others, Nygma's inability to see any kind of flaw in his thinking meant he refused to even see the possibility of losing. He spent his days during his trial scrawling on paper as he tried to figure out how the Batman could have cheated and how to further defeat him. Found mentally incapable of standing trial, Nygma was then sent to an asylum where he spent the rest of his life writing even more ludicrous schemes as his obsession on defeating the Batman overcame everything else. He died in 1960, a completely broken man.

Michael Ruegger – The man known as the 'Sewer King' failed to live long enough to see the end of World War II. He was cornered and killed by his fellow prison inmates in early 1944, his crimes against children being beyond the pale, even for the others in Blackgate.

Jervis Tetch – Like others who escaped Blackgate Prison, Tetch was sent to Death Row upon recapture and was executed in March, 1946. His work on mind altering substances did not go forgotten however as they became the basis for government experiments in the 1950's. Such experiments led to the drug growing in infamy and even being used recreationally once it leaked out to dealers. It was the scourge of the streets throughout the 1960's and 70's, Charles Manson becoming infamous for expanding his cult numbers greatly with it. The substance is illegal in many countries and remains a threat to law enforcement agencies everywhere due to its addictive nature and the ability for anyone to use it to bend people to their will.

Two names are missing from this list for good reason. Selina Kyle shall be talked about shortly, as she played a major role in Gotham's late life another way. Hugo Strange is also missing from the list, in large part due to no one knowing what happened to him. After the capture of Bane he disappeared, leaving behind only a few diaries and his research notes. A huge manhunt took place to find him, but he was never found. Rumours were rife that he had fled to South America and had joined Nazis who were living there. But with the capture of Josef Mengele by Max Eisenhardt, which led to further arrests of those on the run, hopes were dashed that Strange would be caught and he was never seen again. He continues to be one of the final mysteries of Batman and one of the more sinister foes that the Dark Knight faced.

These figures soon grew to be part of the legend that the Batman had started, the folk hero joined by his villains. The legend soon came into question though, the anti-communist hysteria of the 1950's causing the HUAC to look into any possible links that the Batman may have had with the Soviet Union. The ridiculous accusations were mocked by many in Gotham, but they were serious enough to prompt Alexander Knox to write his book in order to defend the Batman. 

Since then, the reputation of the Batman has been the subject of debate depending on the person's views of vigilantism. The anti-government feelings born from the 1960's and turmoil of the 1970's certainly helped this feeling grow and the Batman has been seen through that lens by historians of the period. The 1980's saw a more critical approach to the man and his actions, as it was felt that such desperate actions came from someone who was as much of an unstable threat as those he had fought.

The historical view of the Batman can never truly be settled. The fact that his actions inspired others like him who had their own successes and failures muddied the waters on vigilante justice in general. The Black Bat and Azael were only two of many who tried their hands at becoming vigilantes, striking at criminals while wearing masks and bringing controversy that came from their own self-imposed quests. These issues around the Batman are debated to this day and will probably never be settled.

But the major issue around the Batman is the one mystery that hangs above him most of all.

Who was he?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here were have the aftermath of Batman's career and a summation of those around him and what they did after the events in question. As ever, I hope everyone enjoys the update.


	11. Chapter 11

Chapter Ten: Under The Cowl

_“By now, it is far too late to determine the identity of the Batman. No clues remain and the motivations are murky. It shall forever remain one of the great unsolved mysteries of this century.”_

_Interpol Inspector Maxwell Gadget, speaking in 1989_

The identity of the Batman remains one of the most appealing parts of his legend to those who read about it. Countless articles and books that have detailed theories have been released over the years, yet we are still no closer to the truth than we are when people first started trying to deduce the facts sixty years ago. 

There are four names which are commonly brought up when discussing those suspected of being the Batman. It would be remiss of me not to mention them, since they have enough evidence and support to at least talk about them. Two of them stand before above the others and one has been mentioned for years as the most likely suspect as the Batman, but I am getting ahead of myself. Here are the four names most linked to being the Dark Knight:

Gomez Addams:  
Eccentric is often a term used to describe the Batman. How else could you describe a man who dressed up as a giant bat? And eccentricity was something that ran in the Addams family bloodline. The family had been attached to Gotham for centuries when the Batman first appeared, the then current patriarch of the family being Gomez Addams, who, on paper, actually had some aspects that made him a good suspect to be the Batman.

To start, the Addams were fantastically wealthy. No one is quite certain as to where the money came from, rumours of the family having had a very successful pirate in their line were common though. But the money that the Addams had would allow Gomez to pursue a path such as the Dark Knight. The equipment that the Batman used and had to maintain would have required a great amount of capital, as well as having enough wealth to live on as the role as the city's defender would have taken up too much time to allow for a regular job. The need for money would have meant that the Batman would have needed a large amount of it, or required some serious backing.

The personality of Gomez Addams also played into the suspicion around him being Batman. He was in his mid-thirties at the time, physically very active, having had the chance to compete for the Olympics as a fencer. He passed on it though, as he worked hard to maintain the family estates and law practice in Gotham and the surrounding area. He was known to take on any challenge outside of these ventures however, as well as being very active in local charities. He was also widely known as an eccentric, having a taste for the macabre and Gothic that dominated his house and defined his fashion sense throughout his life.

Wealth, physical ability and a taste for the darker things in life. All these have made people suspect Gomez Addams to be the Batman. The theory falls apart in large part due to Addams' own personality. He was flighty, easily distracted and a terrible judge of character as well as an horrifically incompetent lawyer. It sounds amazing, but Addams was known to boast that he had never won a single case he had taken on. In fairness, all of these cases were pro bono and largely considered to be completely hopeless anyway. The man relished a challenge, whether or not it could be achieved and he loved the outcome.

His faith in other people was another characteristic that people noted about him, to the extent that he publicly stated Carmine Falcone was a dear friend of his who was just misunderstood by the population at large. That Falcone did everything he could to avoid him did little to deter Addams and the mobster was known to privately state that Addams was a bewildering irritant that he longed to be rid of. Had Addams actually been the Batman, it would be doubtful he would have latched onto Falcone in such a way, unless he was simply adding some sadism into his quest for justice.

There was also the fact that Addams was seen on numerous occasions when the Batman was active at the same time. A solid alibi seemed to infuriate Addams whenever it happened, the rumours of him being Batman having had lit a fire in him that he refused to douse. It went as far as him storming into a police station and demanding to be interrogated as a suspect, much to everyone's bewilderment. He had little talent for falsehood as well, losing large sums on poker throughout his life, in large part because he didn't have a tell so much as an inability to even understand the concepts of bluffing and lying. He was impeccably honest in all his dealings and the thought of him being able to keep a secret such as being the Batman was unthinkable to anyone who knew him.

Gomez Addams cannot be seen as a serious suspect to being the Batman, despite the man's own protests at the thought of being dismissed. He had several factors that leant well to theories, but his personality, some solid alibis (Even if they were accidental) and the fact he was willing to get along so well with the likes of Falcone, must eliminate him from suspicion. Addams still lives in Gotham City to this day, an old and beloved figure who is still devoted to the city, although that pales in comparison to the devotion he shows to his extended family. A group that have roots deep in Gotham, the Addams family link the city to its past through its taste in the dark, macabre and strange.

Harvey Dent:  
Harvey Dent is quite the opposite to Gomez Addams in terms of factors that make him look like a good suspect on paper. His arrests, mental break down and the fact that his life ended as a patient in a mental hospital usually disqualifies him from being regarded as a serious suspect. To those that believe Dent was the Batman, these points help make him all the stronger as a potential Dark Knight.

Those that follow on with Dent being the Batman point out (Not without merit) that anyone who dresses up as a giant bat to fight crime was never very stable to begin with. Being involved in the District Attorney's office would have clued Dent in on the fact that it would have taken drastic action to bring down the Falcone family, and so entered into a conspiracy with James Gordon to create a figure that they could use to attack the mob. So goes the theory anyway and there is some merit to Dent's motivation at least.

That Dent was slowly consumed by his obsession of the Falcone family is undeniable, as is that the Batman almost seemed to work hand in hand with his investigations. Everything that the Batman did early on greatly benefited Dent in his quest to bring down the crime family and seemed to have intimate knowledge of Dent's trials, such as the jury and suspects. Now, while this could have easily been an ally doing it, people point towards only Dent being obsessed enough to carry it out. Many also mention that the first time the Joker and Batman meeting each other was when Dent had gone missing, only reappearing long after the Batman and Joker had gone.

Those appearances that Dent had been seen with the Batman were chalked up to the conspiracy that Dent had formed with James Gordon. An, as of yet, unidentified police officer took on the role when Dent was unavailable. The theory goes on that Dent's time in Arkham Asylum was merely a cover, so that his activities could carry on without scrutiny. It is easy to fake records showing Dent was in Arkham while actually patrolling the streets as Batman, those pushing the theory say. In defence of such an argument, considering the woeful security and corruption in the institute, it is a point not entirely without merit.

Physically, there was little stopping Dent from being Batman, having had a history of boxing since childhood that had led to him having had a chance as following it as an actual career before he chose law. He kept up practice as his time as an ADA, using it as an outlet for his frustrations. A tendency towards violence and his ability to use it singled him out as a suspect by some and even the murder of Carmine Falcone is said to have been a further breaking point for Dent as he had proved unable to get at the man in either of his personas.

In truth though, Harvey Dent could not have been the Batman, despite those who push the theory that he was. He was a fundamentally broken person by the end of his life and simply lacked the stability to take up a quixotic crusade like the Batman had done. His obsession with duality simply could not be faked and his mental health was catalogued by many doctors outside of Arkham's own questionable staff standards. Dent himself would violently deny being Batman on the rare occasions someone asked him. Although his feelings towards Gordon softened after his capture in 1945, he would continue to harbour resentment towards the Batman, feeling that the Dark Knight had abandoned him to his fate.

The theory of Harvey Dent concerns those who tend towards conspiracies, it being favoured by those who believe that the Batman was either a tool for the city government to keep down the masses, or a desperate move made by Jim Gordon and his allies in the GCPD to bring down organised crime. But there are too many holes to support it and Dent simply wasn't capable of being the Dark Knight. As tempting as it is to try and redeem the man, he cannot have been the person who brought about Gotham's salvation.

Joseph Chill:  
A relatively unknown individual, Joseph Chill wasn't even a suspect to being the Batman until research in the 1970's uncovered his role and connection in Gotham City. Chill had been born into a poor family of Gotham, struggling against poverty his entire life and having numerous run ins with the law during his childhood. After a spate of petty crimes in his life, Chill eventually left Gotham when he was eighteen. No one is quite sure why he did this, although the fact that he left mere days after the Wayne family murders could point to him being affected badly by them, as many in Gotham were.

From there, it's hard to track Chill's movements exactly, although there is one photo from the Spanish Civil War which links him to the conflict. It's a group shot of him standing amongst some Republican fighters in the aftermath of the Siege of Madrid. While those who push Chill's claim as Batman go to say that it showed a key sense of justice in the man, others point towards the long pressed accusations by Francoist Spain that Chill had a role in gun smuggling to the Republicans.

Whatever his role and actions in this period, Chill returned to Gotham in late 1938 with enough money to set himself up in an isolated house just outside the city itself. He got into contact with a few old friends, who noticed that the years had changed Chill. He was quieter, more thoughtful and, above all, determined to stay on the right side of the law. The few friends he spoke with during this period would go on to mention how retiring he was and seemed reluctant to talk about anything regarding his past and why he had returned to Gotham.

Over the next few years, Chill's behaviour would turn erratic and paranoid as he believed that someone or something was after him. He withdrew completely, turning his house into a veritable fortress as he was determined to fight off whatever threat he was scared of. By 1946, he was a recluse with only a handful of people knowing that he even still lived. On the 14th October, the house caught fire which took several hours to put out. Once it was done, Chill's remains were found inside, having been burnt to a crisp in the heat. Due to the damage to his body, it was impossible to determine the time of death. He could have died in the fire, or may have been dead for some time before the blaze. Indeed, many supporters of Chill being Batman like to claim that he was murdered by the remains of Bane's organisation who were looking for revenge.

The cause for the fire had been arson, but with no clear evidence as to who started it. With such a reclusive lifestyle, Chill had no enemies known to the police and there were no suspects. Murder or suicide were considered viable reasons for his death but nothing concrete could be proven and his death is still regarded as unsolved. It went by largely unnoticed until several theorists latched onto him as a suspect to be the Batman. Indeed, there seems to be a good deal to support this theory.

Joseph Chill was wealthy, physically fit and of a questionable mental state that deteriorated during the period that the Batman's enemies increased in number. There was a gap in his history that would have allowed him to take on training to become the figure of the night. The event of the Wayne murders could have easily provided the catalyst for him to wander and learn the skills needed to fight the corruption in Gotham. What really pushes this theory that there is certainly enough circumstantial proof to support it. 

But, all the evidence is just circumstantial. While there are enough parts to Chill's character that did point towards him as a suspect to being the Batman, there is nothing concrete. He never once made a comment to anyone in regards to the Falcone family or even gave an opinion on the Dark Knight. He mostly kept his conversation to the old days of Gotham, as if he wanted to return to them. And while the Batman may have had mental issues, a break down due to paranoia like that shown by Chill wouldn't be likely to see as such jumpiness would have affected his ability as a vigilante.

I cannot agree with the theory that Joseph Chill was Batman. There are plenty of factors which may point towards him being able to fit into the role, but there is nothing concrete. Chill most likely was just a man weary of travelling the world, who came home and had a past that caught up with him. He was almost certainly a figure who had little to no involvement with the events that took place in Gotham during this period. Without anything to give Chill any links to the Batman, I can only give my opinion that he was not connected to the Dark Knight in any fashion.

Bruce Wayne:  
The final and most noteworthy suspect of being the Batman. Those who study the subject, even if they believe someone else was Batman, admit that Bruce Wayne is a likely suspect to have been a backer to the Dark Knight at the very least. With his wealth, he had the means and the murder of his parents certainly provided a motivation for him to wear the cowl. 

Personality wise though, Wayne was infamous for his playboy ways and, to those who knew him, had the reputation of being quite clueless in some respects. Internal politics in the city bored him and he had nothing to say in regards to law and order aside from some put downs about the Batman. Wayne Enterprises was itself more run by the board of directors than Wayne himself, who was happy to take a more relaxed approach to running things. While he had the final say towards the business and stepped in from time to time, he kept the day to day affairs of Wayne Enterprises in the hands of others.

Outside of work, Wayne was involved mostly in two things, social causes and chasing skirts. The latter is what kept his name in the press more than the former, as he became notorious for running around with any socialite that he could find. With his wealth and charm, it wasn't hard for anyone to fall for him and Frank Sinatra commented that a lot of what he learned about women came from Bruce Wayne. It wasn't until 1947, when he started to date Selina Kyle, that he settled down, marrying her in 1949.

His social causes did him much more credit, using the Wayne Foundation to help battle poverty and crime in the city, using its resources to fund businesses and rehabilitation that helped thousands over the years. It was a major cause behind Gotham City's eventual prosperity in later years. The Wayne Foundation continues to this day, being a major cause for good in the city and the most enduring part of Bruce Wayne's legacy.

Wayne would soften his image in later years, his marriage having had a stabilising effect on him and his daughter, Helena, went on to become Wayne Enterprises' most successful CEO, sending the company to new heights. Bruce Wayne's passing in 1990 due to heart complications was felt keenly in Gotham. There still may have been jokes about his lurid past from time to time, but his role in helping Gotham get on its feet was well acknowledged and he is missed to this day.

Whether Wayne was Batman or not is a matter of debate throughout Gotham. Even during the time of the Dark Knight's activities, a large portion of the population considered him a likely suspect. He would always deny such claims, his reputation of being a layabout, skirt-chasing socialite made others think him incredibly unlikely to be the Batman as well. But, such things can be faked and, if one were to be the Batman, such a facade would be an easy one to maintain as well less strenuous and more enjoyable than something like the personality of Gomez Addams.

What is interesting to note is the fact that from January to July of 1946, Bruce Wayne wasn't seen in Gotham City at all. He apparently went on a tour through Europe, gathering information on how to extend Wayne Enterprises' business into the continent. There were witnesses in locations like Monaco and Switzerland that provided him with an alibi, but it wasn't as if Wayne didn't have the resources to bribe people to speak up for him. The time it would have taken to recover from an injury that Bane inflicted upon the Batman would have been months at least and Wayne vanishing from Gotham certainly strikes as more than mere coincidence. Other little factoids, such as the Black Bat making her first appearance when Wayne was being held hostage, are also seen as evidence by some.

Wayne's resources were certainly capable of providing him the equipment to be the Batman and the gap in his early years would also allow him the time period to train for the crusade ahead. Enough factors are on display to certainly make Wayne a likely suspect, even if there are alibis to his whereabouts at certain points, his wealth could have easily secured them. With Wayne Manor isolated from the rest of Gotham, he also would have had a good place to act as a base away from prying eyes.

No links can be found as to who might be identified as either Azrael or the Black Bat though. While I personally believe the Black Bat to have been David Cain's daughter, there is no real idea behind who Azrael might have been. His own identity remains a mystery and investigations actually taken by the Baltimore police have always turned up empty. There hasn't been a way to connect Bruce Wayne with any others who might have filled in these roles.

When confronted with any accusations of being Batman, Wayne himself was prone to laugh them off, as would others who knew him. Commissioner Gordon did investigate him as a suspect, but called it off once he was happy with the alibi provided. Whether or not Gordon was truly satisfied, or he just didn't want to look too hard at the main suspect is unknown. No official links were ever made in regards to Wayne being Batman, although rumours among Gotham's population were common and remain so up to this day.

Once again, I will have to say that the identity of the Batman is going to be a long running mystery. Bruce Wayne, I will admit, remains the most likely suspect out of all of them. He was loyal to the city, had the motive, means and there are enough gaps in his life to make a reasonable assessment that he was either training or recovering due to his activities as the Dark Knight. Despite the lack of a connection to anyone who could have been Azrael, the fact that he was gone after the Batman's defeat by Bane would have allowed him to recover and for Azrael to wear the cowl of the Batman in the meantime.

All this is speculation however. It is perhaps too easy to claim that Bruce Wayne is Batman when, like Joseph Chill, there is nothing concrete to link him as being the Dark Knight. While it would be good to have an open and shut case, to say with certainty that we know who the Batman is, it would be irresponsible of me to state such a thing when I know it to be a lie. The identity of the Batman, barring any new evidence, is most likely to be an unsolved mystery.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A quick overview of the suspects believed to be the Batman. Any idea who it could be. As ever, hope you all enjoy reading the fic.


	12. Chapter 12

Chapter Eleven: Batman in Culture

_“Somebody's opened up Pandora's Box,_   
_Now every sin is free!_   
_Dark entwined with darkness, is all I ever see._   
_Save me o'lord, can't you hear my desperate plea?_   
_Is dark entwined with darkness, all I'll ever see?”_

_Lyrics from 'The Dark Knight' Broadway musical, 1985_

It would not be a complete record of the Batman without mentioning his impact on popular culture. Being the first masked vigilante, he captured the imagination of people like the heroes of old. He was frequently compared to Robin Hood and occupies a similar role in the popular consciousness of a man seeking justice outside the confines of the law. He was an inspiration to others to follow a similar path and caused a large number of pop culture figures to use him as a subject for their works.

Others took up masks to fight crime after the Batman appeared. Perhaps most notable in the period was Sir Justin Arthur of England. Working for British Intelligence, Arthur had uncovered a spy ring in his native Sussex. Ever a fanciful sort, he donned a suit of armour from his family's castle and broke up a meeting of the spy ring, managing to take several members captive as reinforcements arrived to help him. Dubbing himself the 'Shining Knight', Arthur would go on to serve as something of a propaganda piece for the British government, also still acting in his capacity as an intelligence officer as his identity was kept a secret until official documents were released in 1992. He was also the inspiration for famed children's author Ian Fleming, whose stories were based off Arthur's work, with a good deal of embellishment thrown in.

In the USA, the Batman's influence would be felt even more keenly. In Wyoming, a man by the name of Greg Saunders put on a mask and used the moniker of Vigilante as he was inspired to track down his father's killers. He successfully brought the gang to justice and continued on in his role as a protector of the state, being seen as someone carrying on the tradition of the lone law-man, dispensing justice and protecting the weak. His identity was eventually revealed by Saunders himself, who retired from his role of the Vigilante in 1947, five years after taking it on. He had found it had taken a toll on his mind and body and he enjoyed a quiet retirement, happy to keep to his music and telling tall tales of his action filled career.

Even in places that World War II had isolated from the rest of the world, there were those who found themselves inspired to take on the role of a masked vigilante. In occupied Poland, while the resistance movement was ongoing, a man by the name of Janos Prohaska put on a dark costume and struck at Nazi forces throughout the country. Serving as a rallying call for people throughout Eastern Europe, the man known as 'Blackhawk' infuriated Nazi forces for years. Sadly, he would die in the Warsaw Uprising, his body hidden by the Polish Resistance and eventually given a full burial by Soviet forces. He remains a hero to his country to this day and his actions as a man who avenged his country from the shadows remain as popular legends.

The war and vigilantism also had an impact on one person back in the USA. Courtney Whitmore was a young woman who wanted to fight for her country, but found that her step-father, brilliant mechanic Pat Dugan, had pulled enough strings to make sure she was stuck with a safe desk job rather than in intelligence as she had hoped. Frustrated in her role, Whitmore clad a colourful costume to hide her identity as she discovered corruption within her department as a colonel was selling off surplus goods to Argentina. Although, in this case, Whitmore admitted later on to being much more inspired by Selina Kyle's actions than Batman's, even if she did wear a costume. She confronted the colonel, managing to expose him and the conspiracy and gaining great acclaim in doing so. Much like Justin Arthur, Whitmore was used in a propaganda role, although she used her position to speak for women's rights. She would reveal her identity after the war, going onto become a spokesperson for greater rights for women throughout the country.

One of the most notable and tragic figures to come out of the masked vigilante movement was John Wilson. An African-American born in Alabama, Wilson fought in World War I as a young man, getting noted for his bravery in combat. Returning home to his farm, he would marry and have a family. His life was destroyed in 1940 after an attack by Ku Klux Klan members burned down his house with his family inside. Wilson managed to survive and took up a masked persona, wearing a black hood and wielding two sledgehammers as he decided to fight back against the injustice that effected him and others in the state. The Klan were to find him a nightmare to deal with as he attacked their members and high ranking government officials who gave the Klan and their members protection. He was eventually gunned down in one such attack, dying a martyr to his cause in 1942. His legacy would be very mixed as the urge to take up violent means in order to secure civil rights, or just even to get revenge, proved popular among some sections of the African-American population. Despite that, he would be famed as a hero for many, fighting against oppression.

There were many others who put on masks, inspired by the Batman and having their own motivations for doing so. It is entirely possible that they would have acted on their own, their reasons were certainly there to do so. But the Batman had made the use of theatrics and hidden identities seen as a possible course of action and it caught on. These were simply the most notable names during the period and stood out for their actions, particularly in the war. Although masked vigilantism is less common now than it was in the 1940's, there still remains those who would don masks and cowls to protect their identities while fighting crime, with mixed success. It is undeniable that, while the substance may have been there, the style was influenced by the Dark Knight.

In terms of pop culture, the Batman has seen his own star rise with art, books and a smash hit musical all focusing on him being released over the decades. Fiction and non-fiction dominate the story of Batman with history books, speculative fiction and outright conspiracy theories taking up the majority of it. Political science has taken an interest as well, with the Batman's role in the growth of Gotham and the elimination of vast amounts of poverty in the city seeing numerous interpretations by writers. Fiction revolves around who the Batman might have been and him interacting with the figures made famous due to the period in Gotham's history. Among them, Ellery Queen's novel, _The Knight's Quest_ , published in 1958, stood out for helping popularise fictional books in the era. Queen himself was also one who pushed forward the idea of Bruce Wayne being Batman.

In recent times, the most popular part of Batman's pop culture legacy has been _The Dark Knight_ , a 1985 Broadway musical written by Jim Steinman. A dark, brooding show in the style of _Sweeney Todd_ , it became a smash hit and also ran in London's West End. The musical, including various songs such as _Drives Us Bats_ , _Where Does He Get All Those Wonderful Toys_ and _Dark Entwined With Darkness_ , became and instant hit and held a long run on Broadway with a revival earlier this year. It, almost more than anything else, has helped continue the interpretation of Batman being a grim loner, despite the evidence of his partnerships with the Black Bat and Azrael.

The depiction of the Batman as a tragic, lone crusader is commonly what is seen in fiction about him. Personally, I cannot see that as the full truth. Whoever Batman was, he was fighting for something and he had those who supported him, potentially an entire network of people. He must have had people who were there for him and lighter moments in his life to offset the overwhelming crusade he had taken up. His role in popular culture is the dark avenger, grim and foreboding, but he was a man who strove for justice, was an inspiration to others and served as an example for others to follow.

Dark Knight he might have been, but the Batman certainly brought the light with him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The lyrics at the top of the chapter are taken from the song 'Dark Entwined With Darkness', which can be found on YouTube. Not an actual Steinman song, it captures the style of him superbly and would be a great song for a Batman musical, in my opinion. As ever, I hope everyone enjoys.


	13. Chapter 13

Chapter Twelve: Conclusion

For nearly seven years, the Batman watched over Gotham and protected it from the dangerous and unusual. His impact in Gotham and beyond is hard to put in mere words, but can be seen constantly. From books, to music to political debate, his actions formed a key part of American folklore of the twentieth century and served as an inspiration to those overseas. It has been fascinating to look into this subject and I only wish that I could devote the time needed for it in full. But, that would require entire tomes and has been explored by many others anyway.

Throughout this book, I have quoted various figures from history who, I believe, have been impacted by the events in Gotham in some way. Either through their philosophy, careers or actions, we can see a reflection of the Batman's deeds in some manner. I will now include a quick summary of these people as I think it shows just how far the Dark Knight's influence travelled.

Clark Kent (1915- ) – Born in rural Kansas, Clark Kent would later go on to become one of the most famous reporters in the USA. His career stretched over five decades, starting in 1939, and helped uncover the seamier side of America, exposing corruption and conspiracies such as the Tuskegee Institute in 1950 and the MKUltra in 1958. He became the one reporter that everyone could trust and despite the accolades and fame, remained happy to work as a journalist for the  _ Daily Planet _ until age forced his retirement from the paper in 1991. He has since returned to his native Kansas and still writes articles on subjects ranging from political developments to proper farming techniques. He married the love of his life, Lois Lane, in 1945 and the two are always happy to reminisce about old times and their hopes for the future. Although deeply sceptical of the Batman's actions, Kent has always maintained that he believes that there was a deep sense of compassion in the Dark Knight. As questionable as his actions might have been, Kent believed he served something nobler.

Anthony Stark (1940-1978) – The heir to the weapons manufacturer, Stark Industries, Anthony Stark was born in privilege and wealth, but he worked hard to prove he was more than a trust-fund baby. With the Cold War defining Stark's early years, he would throw himself into weapon development, becoming an excellent engineer and designer despite his youth. Stark Industries would go on to make great strides in technology as well as supplying the US government with cutting edge technology. Stark took over the company after his father's death in 1960 and led it to new heights, breaking ground on computer technology especially with the creation of the first widely used microprocessor in 1967. With such strides came a darker side though, Stark's wild lifestyle took a toll on him along with a hereditary heart condition and he died from complications in 1978. His legacy was one of advanced computer and weapons sciences, rapidly increasing the advancement and accessibility of household computers to all. It was also one that helped saw the US establish its Strategic Defence Initiative, Stark's research being instrumental in getting the program online in 1987. Stark would pay little mind to the Batman, his few reflections on the vigilante being that of airy dismissal, a common trend for people in his social standing.

Felix Leiter (1918-1990) – From a family with a military background, it was no surprise that Leiter joined the army as soon as he could. His skills in various areas were noted and he was transferred to intelligence to help uncover any potential espionage threats. Following several successful missions during the war, Leiter became one of the first agents of the newly founded CIA in 1947. Moving out of field work in 1956, he would then move up the ranks to become director of the agency in 1962. He wasn't afraid to clash with various administrations in regards to what he believed were the best use of resources and agents. Despite the arguments, he had a reputation for being able to perceive threats internal and external, master minding the evacuation of diplomatic staff from Iran during the revolution. He would retire from the job in 1983, writing his memoirs and eventually passing away, a respected figure by many. He would reflect on Batman several times, believing that he would have been a perfect agent, if not for the eccentricities of wearing the mask.

Richard Tracy (1898-1977) – A law man who made his name fighting the gangs who used Prohibition to line their own pockets, Richard Tracy became the poster boy for the honest police officer fighting crime and corruption. Tracy also had a rather notorious reputation for his willingness to use deadly force on suspects, few of the more notorious criminals in Detroit managing to survive their attempted arrests. He would use his fame to later go on to be elected Mayor in 1944, serving for eight years until he moved on to become Governor of Michigan. He emphasised law and order as well as pushing forward on Civil Rights. Having seen the effects that Stark led technological advances would make, he also looked to diversify that state's economy, looking to fight against the upcoming automation he saw as inevitable. For this, Michigan most likely owes a debt of gratitude to Tracy that can never be repaid in full. He left office one of the state's most celebrated sons and was mourned widely when he passed away. He never shirked from his views on vigilantes, seeing the Batman as a positive example of what people could do when the rules couldn't protect them.

Helen Maxwell (1969- ) – Originally from England, Maxwell moved to Norway in her early 20's to continue her studies in criminal psychology. In 1996, she got involved with the infamous Barrows' Murders, otherwise known as the 'Scissorman Killings'. A family who had also originally come from England, they were an offshoot of nobility who had had a long and dark past to them. An attempt to adopt four teenage girls into the family resulted in the murder of three of them and the youngest, Jennifer Simpson killing two of her attackers simply to survive. The following investigation in the Barrows and the revelation of their years as serial killers shook Europe deeply and the effects are still felt to this day. Maxwell was one of the doctor's assigned to help Simpson, as she was suffering with, among other things, severe PTSD. Things would get worse as a copycat struck a year later, starting a series of spree killings where a hidden member of the Barrows family turned out to be the culprit. With his death by the hands of the police however, the issue was finally put to rest and Maxwell would adopt Jennifer in 1998, giving the girl some much needed stability after her experiences. Since her run in with the evil of the Barrows, Maxwell has become a leading expert on extreme criminals and has published numerous papers in regards to the Batman, seeing him as one of the few people of that mindset who turned out for the better.

Leona Ozaki (1970- ) – Leona Ozaki has had one of the most interesting careers a police officer could have. She graduated at the top of her class, training to be a police officer and took up the uniform with a sense of enthusiasm that was quite unnerving. In her first year as an officer in 1990, she had uncovered a web of corruption that extended to the highest echelons of the Japanese cabinet, although there is some debate on whether or not it was intentional or she merely stumbled over it while investigating a theft involving medical supplies. The scandal led to a string of arrests through the higher ranks of the LDP and election defeat that it still has yet to recover from. With the spotlight suddenly on her, Ozaki did not shirk from it, actually gaining some infamy for speaking her mind when it came to matters of law and order. She was elected to the Diet in 1996, despite such views and remains a person of some controversy with her views of police brutality being questionable, to put it mildly. Her views on vigilantism are strong as she sees them as part of the wider criminal problem and has singled out the Batman for being the inspiration to many.

William Batson (1940- ) – The 39 th President of the United States, William 'Billy' Batson needs little introduction. Born into poverty in Fawcett City, Batson and his sister Mary would go through the system, with Billy joining the work force while still a child. Taking whatever jobs he could get at a local radio station introduced Batson to the effects media could have on people and his earnestness earned him a small slot reading 'children's news' to the masses. Based off his experiences, he was motivated to get into politics at an early age, using his fame in Fawcett City to get started. A charismatic and respected figure, Batson was the classical Rockefeller Republican in his outlook and became a figure of interest by many as time went on. Becoming the Governor of his native Ohio, Batson's rise in politics was meteoric, eventually securing his party's nomination for the 1980 election. After the chaotic 60's and 70's, Batson's election to the office of President was almost like a rejuvenation to the country. His management of key legislation, helping to increase healthcare, a focus on greatly expanding the weakened Civil Rights legislation of the 1960's and cutting away at stagflation, were of a boon to the nation. His dealings with the Soviet Union were a great factor in its dissolution being peaceful in the late 80's. After his two terms were over, Batson left office to focus on child focused charities. In a recent poll of greatest Presidents among historians, he was ranked fourth. His personal views of vigilantism were an area of criticism, Batson having an almost childlike enthusiasm for the ideas of them and has cited the Batman as a personal hero.

John Steed (1922- ) – The very archetype of an English gentleman, John Steed served in the Royal Navy during World War II, gaining notice for his bravery and calmness under pressure. Leaving the Navy after the war, Steed took a civil service job in London, being known more for his charm and dress style than his work ethic. He eventually turned to writing, being the author of a series of outlandish espionage tales centred around two agents of an unknown and mysterious intelligence organisation. The books were huge hits and Steed had a habit of hinting towards them actually being real, often with a nod and a wink. Despite his success, Steed continued with his line of work in London until retiring in 1980 and currently lives in quiet retirement in the English countryside. His view on vigilantism seemed to be that of an amateur admirer, seeing it as a potential hobby group for eccentrics above all else.

Ami Mizuno (1978-) – A child prodigy, Ami Mizuno was noted from a young age for her incredible intelligence in all areas of academic study. She graduated from high school aged only fourteen and went on to study medicine, gaining her doctorate at seventeen years old. She has written numerous articles during her studies, showing a great interest in vigilantes and their health in particular as her native Japan had seen many such heroes rise over the years. As her studies went on, Mizuno would soon be recognised as the leading expert on the effects vigilantism would have on health, both physical and mental. She currently lives in Tokyo with her life partner, Makoto Kino and looks to start work as a full fledged doctor once completing her training. Her research has looked towards the Batman numerous times, seeing him as a defender of the people of Gotham, but ultimately someone who himself was in dire need of help. Mizuno's theories tend to separate such figures into two groups, those who are inspired to act due to high ideals, or those who are pushed onwards to some tragic incident in their past. Mizuno placed the Batman in the latter category, the darkness in his character and mostly lone crusade certainly making it a viable theory.

Steve Rogers (1919-1979) – Dubbed the 'Liberal Lion', Steve Rogers had a long and arduous career in politics that started in poverty. Born in New York, Rogers suffered from a series of ailments that affected him throughout his life and prevented him from joining the army as he hoped. Unable to fight for his country on the battlefield, Rogers turned to other pursuits in order to do so, joining the Democratic Party as he looked to serve his nation in politics. An admirer of Franklin Roosevelt, Rogers would mould his politics around the New Deal President, keeping those ideals throughout his lifetime. Despite his ill health, Rogers' charisma and idealism attracted many towards him, soon becoming a noticed name in New York politics. He was elected to the State Senate and then to Governor in 1955, his backstory as an every-man making him appealing to voters. His time in Congress would see him praised and criticised in almost equal measure as him sticking to his beliefs would stymie, as well as help his causes. Although respected and even liked by almost everyone in Congress, Rogers' inability to compromise his ideals while having a wide base of support in the Democratic Party set back some of the causes he fought for. He would die in office, lionised by many and admired for his success in pushing forward honest government measures. His take on vigilantes was that they could be extraordinary people facing hard times. As one who was never able to take the action that he had once wanted, he saw vigilantes as doing what was needed when the situation called for it.

Maxwell Gadget (1958- ) – Known to many as the 'World's Greatest Detective', Maxwell Gadget gained his reputation by single-handedly bringing down the Moldavian-Albanian Duumvirate crime syndicate in the mid-80's. A native of Quebec, Gadget would rise to become an Interpol detective, even though his early reputation suggested that he got that far mostly out of bull headed stubbornness as opposed to intelligence or his detective skills. This would change when he would be put on the case against the crime syndicate, it being widely regarded as unsolvable due to the syndicate's Soviet Union backing and protection. Despite this though, Gadget seemed to have blossomed under pressure and brought down all of the organisation's major operations worldwide over the years 1983-1986. It is possible that the murder of his brother and sister-in-law in 1981 by agents of the syndicate gave him a key motivation, avenging the death of his brother as well as bringing closure to his niece. Whatever his final motivations, Gadget's investigations destroyed the criminal syndicate and made him a hero to the world. He has since retired from detective work and his niece, Penny Gadget has gone on to join Interpol herself, showing an aptitude for investigation that matches her uncle's. Maxwell Gadget looked down upon vigilantes himself, believing that they didn't have what it took to be real detectives and was scornful of the Batman acting outside of the law.

The effects of the Batman can be seen outside his immediate time and place by looking at how these people perceived him and were even impacted by him. Beyond those he helped in Gotham, the Batman served as an inspiration for others to follow on their quest for justice. Although he was clad in darkness, he strove towards the light, bringing down criminals and protecting people from the insanity that had infected Gotham's streets. There is and shall almost always be controversy over his motivations and actions, but it is my personal belief that the Batman did what he did for the best reasons and had as positive an impact as one person could have.

This was never intended to be a complete story of the Batman, simply one to give an insight into the man and his exploits. There are others, the Black Bat and Azrael especially, who deserve great acclaim and have received it from various sources. But this is a story primarily about the Dark Knight and what his actions led to. Without him, the wave of masked vigilantes that continue to this day might never have happened and history might be a bit poorer for it. But, it is his influence on Gotham that is where he truly shines and the city is better for him having existed.

If you walk through the streets of Gotham today, you will see a much different city from what it was sixty years ago. New buildings have risen over the former Gothic dominated skyline and major crime is largely forgotten, it being one of the safest cities to live in the US. Despite the changes, there is something of a nostalgia for the past, the time of the Batman seen as something of a grand adventure by those who didn't have to live through it. The Dark Knight has become a figure much like Robin Hood to the people of Gotham, a hero acting outside the rules and laws to do what was right, at a great personal sacrifice.

Standing in Tricorner Yards in Gotham, you will see a museum dedicated to this time period, full of media and personal effects to showcase the events. Just outside is a statue of a foreboding figure dressed like a bat. This remains the only official tribute to Batman in Gotham, a lone reminder of the debt the city owes him. Time has passed and the wounds of the period have healed, but the memories remain. Gotham has moved to a bright future and the world now recognises the Batman as a hero who fought against the odds and made a difference. One man standing up for what was right.

In the end, that was all that was needed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here we come to the end of the story. Hope everyone's enjoyed this ride. Has been interesting to go back and re-edit this in a number of ways, was a writing task that was a bit different to what I normally do and proved to be quite the fun trip. Thanks to everyone who's read this.

**Author's Note:**

> Posted this fic elsewhere, thought I'd send it here as well. A look at Batman in a historical setting as told by someone writing years after the fact. Hope you all enjoy the twists and turns to come.


End file.
